Moments
by Marishka12
Summary: Sequel to What Makes You Beautiful. After their break up, Andre and Tori move on and find other people. But what happens when both their significant others turn crazy and Andre's son and Tori's daughter are in danger? Will Andre and Tori find each other again?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, what's up? Well, if you're reading this then I guess it means…you're reading this. Haha. But anyway…I can't believe I have officially completed my first week as a college student! That's insane! Time goes by so quickly!**

**So this is the OFFICIAL sequel to "What Makes You Beautiful." This whole story is complete and I'm in the process of separating the chapters into individual documents to upload here onto fanfiction. I'm SO excited to hear what you guys think of this story! I'm proud of this one and I hope you like it. :)**

**Now onto the first chapter! All of you who ship Tandre romantically are going to really like this chapter…hehe (;**

**Disclaimer: Do I even have to say it? No…I, sadly, don't own Victorious.**

Tori's POV

Andre was honestly the greatest boyfriend I'd ever had. He was always a great friend before, but he was an even better boyfriend, if that was even possible. He really treated me like a princess and told me I was beautiful every single day. He could be really corny at times, but he was really sweet. We exchanged our first 'I love you' after being together for three months. He would literally do anything for me and that's one of the things I loved most about him. Like if I asked him to run around the world in sixty seconds, he would find a way to do it in a heartbeat.

September of our senior year was a turning point in our relationship, but in a good way. We grew stronger from it, unlike some couples, who sometimes broke up right after it happens.

We went out to dinner to a nice, yet casual restaurant to celebrate being together for four months and I know what you're thinking; who celebrates their four months anniversary? Well…Andre and I do, that's who.

Anyway, after we ate dinner, we went back to Andre's house so we could just hang out. His parents were out of town and his little sister was spending the night at a friend's house, so we had the house to ourselves. We walked into his room and I plopped on his bed and wrapped my arms around my stomach. "Ugh, I don't feel too good."

"Aw, why not?" he asked as he sat next to me.

"I think I ate too much." I said and looked up at me. "That dessert was so creamy and so rich."

He sighed and laid next to me. He pushed my hair out of my face and kissed my cheek. "I really wish you wouldn't worry about food so much."

"I never worry about it." I said and he eyed me. I sighed and continued by saying, "Not anymore anyway." I was completely cured from my eating disorder and I didn't think about it nearly as much as I used to. At this point, I had gained all my weight back. I was doing a really good job of moving on from that. "I'm just staying that I think I ate too much, but I don't regret eating it. It was so delicious and that dessert was heavenly." I leaned over and kissed him. "Believe me, Andre…I loved it and do you wanna know what I love even more than that dessert?"

He giggled and tucked hair behind my ear. "And what is that?"

"You," I whispered.

"Aww, you're so sweet, babe." he said and kissed me. "I'm flattered that you love me more than a dessert."

I giggled and said, "You should be. And you're really sweet, too."

He smiled at me and then we both leaned in and kissed. Within seconds, it turned into a make-out session. We got a little more comfortable and scooted more to the middle of the bed. I got chills all over my body and my heart picked up speed. It was a feeling that I only got while kissing Andre. He made me feel a way that I'd never felt before.

After making out for approximately five minutes, Andre started to unbutton my jeans. Once they were unbuttoned, I reached up and unbuttoned his shirt and I managed to take it off of him. Slowly, but surely, we took turns taking off each other's pieces of clothing. When we were down to nothing and our clothes were on the floor (and we were under the covers), Andre pulled away from the kiss. He ran his fingers through my hair and whispered, "Are you sure about this?"

I instantly nodded. "I am if you are." I whispered.

"I'm ready." he whispered.

"Me, too," I whispered and after that, we both lost all self-control.

I have heard from so many people and even read online that your first time is supposed to hurt really badly, but it didn't hurt for me, not even a little bit. In fact, it was the most amazing few moments of my entire life. There was no pain whatsoever, just blissful perfection.

Afterwards, I simply rested my head on Andre's chest while he kept his arms securely around me. We were silent for a while, but then Andre said, "How do you feel?"

I smiled. "I feel absolutely incredible." I closed my eyes and listened to his steady heartbeat. "And you know what?"

"What?"

"The love I feel for you right now is nothing compared to what I've felt before." I told him. "I don't think I could ever love someone this much."

He gently put his hand under my chin and lifted my face to his. He softly smiled and said, "I love you so much, baby." He leaned in and kissed me gently. "I know boys say this all the time and have probably said this to you, but know that when I say it, I mean it." He cleared his throat. "I will never hurt you."

"Andre…never…that's a big word." I said slowly. "I'm not saying I think you're gonna hurt me, but…things happen."

"I know," he said. "I know that things happen, but just know that I will never hurt you. If we do happen to break up sometime in the not-so-near future, it will be mutual and we both agree to it. I'm not ever going to break your heart."

"Good," I said with a smile. "Because it's yours,"

**Ahhhh! So much fluff in that chapter! Haha. But nevertheless…what did you think so far? Please review! It makes me happy! :)**


	2. Opportunities

**So I know I just posted the first chapter yesterday, but I just love you guys so much that I had to update today. Updates may not be this quickly for the rest of the story though. Maybe like twice a week or something, I don't know yet. We'll see how it works out!**

** Any who, here is the second chapter! Enjoy! :)**

Tori's POV

The rest of the year went great for me and Andre and our first time definitely wasn't the last time. It wasn't like we did it every day or even every week; it was more like once a month or so. We never told anyone that we did it, so it was our little secret. I had a few pregnancy scares, but I was never pregnant. I could literally feel my body relax when I saw that negative sign on pregnancy tests. My parents would kill me if I got pregnant in high school.

Toward the end of my senior year, I saw a thing online that there was an open audition for a traveling Broadway show of "The Wizard of Oz" to play Dorothy. I grew up watching the movie and I loved the book, so I talked to my parents about doing it. If I were to get the role, which I knew was highly unlikely, I would have to move out to New York City and then rehearse for the play for probably a month or a two and then tour around America for like a year. It all sounded really exciting to me, but there was just one little problem…

It was exactly two months until graduation when I talked to my friends about this. We were all at lunch and I started off by saying, "So next month, there's an open audition in New York City to play Dorothy from 'The Wizard of Oz' in a traveling Broadway musical show and…I'm thinking about trying out for it."

"Go for it!" said Cat excitedly. "I know you'll get the part!"

"Well, I haven't decided if I wanna do it or not." I told them. "I've just been thinking about it."

"How long have you been thinking about this?" asked Andre. I looked at him and he looked a little nervous.

I sighed heavily. "Just…for maybe a week,"

He raised his eyebrows. "A week? Really? And I'm just now finding out about this?"

I bit my lip. Just like any couple, Andre and I had our disagreements and an occasional fight, but it was never more than we could handle. We always found a way to work it out. "Yeah," I said quietly. "I'm really sorry."

"Hmm," he said with a nod of his head. "Well…good luck, I guess." He grabbed the rest of his food, got up, and threw it away in the nearest trashcan. Then he headed back in the school.

I sighed and looked back at my friends. "I'll go talk to him." I was already done eating, so I threw away my leftovers and headed in the school as well.

As soon as I located Andre (in the library), I walked right up to him and sat down. He was quietly reading a book, not looking up at me. "Andre?" I whispered.

He shook his head. "No, it's fine."

What was he talking about? "Huh?"

"Look, it's fine, okay?" he said and looked at me. "You didn't have to tell me about this huge opportunity for you. It's not like I'm your boyfriend or anything."

I couldn't tell if that was sarcasm or if he was being serious. "Are you serious?" I asked shakily. "Are you breaking up with me?"

"Oh, God, Tori, no!" he said a little too loudly and the librarian shushed us. He cleared his throat and said a little quieter, "No, Tori, I'm not breaking up with you. I'm just being sarcastic."

"You're mad," I said.

"Well…kinda," he said. "I just don't understand why you wouldn't tell me about this."

"I'm sorry." I said slowly, so we he would understand how much I meant it. "I'm really, really sorry; I should have told you and…I honestly don't know why I didn't."

"Were you scared about what I was gonna think?" he asked. "Did you think I wouldn't want you to go for it?"

"Well…" I said slowly.

"Because I do," he said. "I really do, Tori." He put his book down and turned to me. He grabbed my hands and looked deep into my eyes. "Tori, I would love it if you could get this role. It would be the most amazing thing that's ever happened to you–"

"But you're the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me." I told him immediately.

He softly smiled. "Thanks, baby, but I'm not talking about a person; I'm talking about getting a break in the entertainment world, because believe me, you are the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me. But I haven't had a huge break into the entertainment world and…you do. You should go for it."

"But…but what about us?" I said. "I'll be gone for over a year."

"Yeah and you may never get this chance again." he told me. "Plus, we can still talk on the phone when you're not busy and we can talk through video chat. We can make it work."

"You think so?" I asked quietly.

"I know so." he whispered and then pulled me to him and we kissed.

"Hey!" someone said in a loud whisper.

Andre and I pulled apart and looked over at the librarian. She was glaring at us and not in a nice way at all. "Stop that! This is a library, not a make out place!"

"Fine, we'll just leave." said Andre and he grabbed my hand and we headed out. "She's just jealous she can't get anyone."

The librarian wasn't intended to hear that obviously, but I think she did. She looked at Andre like she wanted to kill him, but we were out of there before she could say or do anything. Once we were outside, I said, "Andre, that was mean." I tried to sound serious, but I was still smiling.

"She was meaner." he said. "I was just showing my love to my beautiful girlfriend."

I smiled and said, "Mm, that's not the only way you show me your love."

He giggled and kissed me again. We pulled apart moments later, but kept our foreheads together. "You're gonna be great as Dorothy."

"I haven't even auditioned yet." I reminded him gently.

"Yeah, but I know you're gonna get the part." he said. "Besides, they would be stupid to not give it to you."

I sighed shakily and said, "I wish I believed in myself as much as you believe in me."

"Oh," he said like he was in pain and gave me a kiss on my forehead. "You have got to believe in yourself, Miss Tori Vega. You have so much talent it's ridiculous. I swear to you, you will knock those casting directors off of their feet. Trust me when I say this, you are going to get that role. And if that one in a trillion chance you don't, I will go down there and talk to those people and make them give you the role." He held his fist up. "If you know what I mean,"

I giggled and wrapped my arms around his neck and then said, "I love you so much." I loved having a boyfriend who believed in me. It was also one of the things I loved most about him.

**Wow…I must really love Tandre fluff. Haha. That's pretty much been the main stuff last two chapters. Oh well. It won't be this much for every chapter.**

**Okay, that's it for now. Don't forget…PLEASE review! :D**


	3. NYC

**So…a lot happens in this chapter. Not that it's bad, just a lot happens. Right now, my brain is fried from homework and while everyone is saying they love college, I'm saying, "Ugh, college, why must you give so much homework?" Oh well, I guess you can't have one without the other.**

** Alright, time for story!**

Tori's POV

Sikowitz, being the best acting teacher that he is, thoroughly prepared me for my audition to play Dorothy. He tweaked all of my little problems and just like Andre, he helped me to know that I should believe in myself. I appreciated both of them so much.

By the time I had my audition the next month, I felt like I nailed it. The casting directors said that they loved me and that they would keep in touch. I thanked them and smiled a smile that I thought was really genuine and I walked out with my shoulders back and my head held high. I believed in myself and I felt like that made all the difference.

Just a few days before graduation, I had a really bad day at school. Andre and I had gotten into an argument over something stupid, I failed a test, and on top of that, I didn't feel good. My throat hurt and I just felt really crummy. When I walked through the doors of my house, the phone rang. I was going to answer it, but my mom got to it quicker than I could.

I headed towards the stairs, intending to go up to my room and lay down for a nap, but my mom said, "Hey Tori?"

I groaned and turned to her. "What do you want?"

She smiled at me and held the phone out to me. "Phone for you,"

I blew out a long sigh and walked up to her and grabbed the phone from her. "Hello?" I said in an aggravated voice.

"Tori?"

My heart started pounding in my throat and I felt like I wanted to throw up. It was one of the casting directors from my audition, Greg. "Yes?"

"Congratulations," he said and I think I nearly passed out. "You are Dorothy!"

I screamed bloody murder into the phone, probably making Greg deaf. I didn't care though, because I already felt like I was in a dream. I couldn't believe that I had gotten the role of Dorothy! I was so excited for what was to come! I was just so ecstatic I couldn't contain myself! "Oh, my God, are you kidding me?"

"No, Tori, I'm serious." he said in a strained voice. "Dang, if I knew you were gonna scream like that, I would have pulled the phone away from my ear. You sure do have a strong set of lungs. I can already tell that you're gonna nail it when you sing 'Over the Rainbow.'"

I laughed. "Aww, thank you!" I squealed. "I'm just so happy right now!"

"Yeah, I know, it's understandable." he said. "Okay, so I have a few things to tell you…" He told me everything I needed to remember and a few other things. He said that he would send me the script for "The Wizard of Oz" and that I needed to start studying my lines. I would move out to New York City in July to start hardcore rehearsals and in September, we would start to tour and perform. We needed a good month to perfect everything. Also, so my cast mates and I would have good chemistry on stage, we needed to spend enough time together and get to know each other.

When I got off the phone with him, I screamed a few times. I went and found the rest of my family and told them the good news, but they already knew. They could hear my screams from all over the house. I felt better than I did when I walked through the door, but my throat didn't feel much better. It actually felt worse since I had screamed so much. It didn't bother me in the least little bit though.

After sharing the excitement with my family, I ran out to my car and jumped in it and sped off to Andre's house. How I managed not to get a speeding ticket, I have no idea, but all I know is that I was going about ten miles above the normal speed limit all the way to Andre's house. It was honestly a miracle that I managed not to get a speeding ticket though.

I pulled into Andre's driveway and jumped out of the car and ran up to the door. I pounded on the door a million times while yelling, "Andre!"

I heard running footsteps and then the door swung open. It was Andre looking at me like I'd lost my mind. "My, God, Tori! Why pound on my door and scream like that?" Since we'd been in an argument earlier, he wasn't too happy with me.

"Because I'm so excited!" I said and started jumping up and down like a little kid. "I'm Dorothy! I'm seriously Dorothy, Andre, can you believe that I'm gonna be Dorothy?"

He suddenly became as excited as I was and just engulfed me in a huge hug and spun me around a few times. When he said me down, he said, "You see, I told you that you could do it! And you did! Oh, my gosh, I'm so happy for you, Tor!" He picked me up again and held onto me tightly.

He was holding onto me so tightly that I had to say, "Andre, let go. I can't breathe."

"Oh, I'm sorry." he said and set me down. "This is just so incredible!"

"I know," I said smiling. "And I owe it all to you. You're the one who told me I could do it and when I went in there for my audition, I could hear your voice in my head and you won't even believe how much that helped me." I pulled my hands up to my mouth and squealed. "I feel like my head is gonna explode!"

"Oh, man, we can't let that happen." he told me. "Your head needs to be fully functional for when you play Dorothy during this next year."

I laughed and then just gave him a big hug. I held onto him tightly, but not near as tightly as he held onto me. Besides I didn't have the kind of strength he did. "But…I can't believe that I won't see you for a whole year. I'm gonna miss you so much."

"I'll miss you, too." he said and kissed the top of my head. We pulled away and looked at each other in the eye. "But it'll only be a year and I'm sure it'll go by fast. You'll probably hardly ever think about me."

"Are you kidding me?" I exclaimed. "Andre, I think about you all the time! I think about how I'm so lucky to have a boyfriend as sweet as you. And…I think about how…" I gulped. "How you saved my life last year,"

He pushed my hair over my ears and then caressed my cheeks with his thumbs. "You know…I know that you don't remember that…when I gave you CPR, but…I do. I think about that all the time. Sometimes, when I look at your face, I imagine your face when I was looking down at you that day. You seemed so relaxed and peaceful, but…you weren't. You were dead to the world." He leaned in and kissed my forehead. I now had tears running down my cheeks. "That was the best and worst day of my life. It was best day because you survived, but it was the worst day because you almost didn't survive."

I burst into tears after he finished talking and just buried my head in his chest. In between sobs, I mumbled, "I wish you could come with me to New York."

"I wish I could, too, but that's not really possible." he said. "Don't worry, Tor, the next year will go by so fast and you'll be so busy."

"I hope so." I said while still hugging him. "I'm gonna make the most of this summer. I will spend every moment possible with you."

Until I went to New York City, my days were spent with my family, studying my lines, and spending time with Andre. He even helped me learn some of my lines and I was very grateful for that. It was really sad, because the more time I spent with him, the more I knew I would miss him when I had to leave.

Graduation was such a special night. I told myself I wouldn't cry, but as soon as I threw my hat in the air, I started bawling. I couldn't believe I was done with high school. My only regret was the things that happened to me my junior year. I was still working on forgiving myself because of that.

The night before I was going to leave, Andre decided to take me out to eat at our favorite restaurant that's really close to my house. I could tell Andre didn't have much of an appetite since he took slow bites of his food and by the time I was finished with mine, he'd only eaten half of his. I softly smiled and said, "Now, Andre, you need to eat your food."

He giggled and shook his head. "You have no idea how much irony is in that statement."

I laughed and then said, "Nah, I'm just kidding. But seriously; what's wrong?"

"Oh nothing, my girlfriend is moving across the country, so you know…I'm not in the best mood right now." He sighed. "I'm trying to imagine what it'll be like when you're not here, but…I can't even picture it."

"Yeah," I whispered. "I know," I sighed shakily. "Andre, we really need to have a special night. We need to forget about everything else and just focus on us tonight. Tomorrow is tomorrow, but today is today. They say that you shouldn't worry about the troubles of tomorrow since today has enough of them." I hesitated. "We have today and that's it. There won't be another day like it. We have to make it last."

He slowly smiled at me. "Then how about we get out of here and go to my house?"

"Let's go now." I told him and we were out of that restaurant within one minute.

Andre and I went straight to his house and to his room. I set on the bed and looked at Andre, who was standing at the door. "Are you sure about this?" he whispered. He always asked that before we did it. He was really sweet in that way. He didn't wanna do it unless I wanted to as well.

I instantly nodded. "Yes. Now shut the door and turn the light off."

Needless to say, that night was very magical.

Andre drove me to the airport the next morning. My plane was taking off at 9:10 and I had to be at the airport no later than 8. It wasn't a rule, but you never know how busy those airports could be, so it's just better to be there early. Since I had to be there so early, I wasn't dressed up; I was wearing a t-shirt, sweat pants, and my hair was in a messy ponytail and I had very light makeup on. Still, when Andre picked me up to take me to the airport, he said, "Hi gorgeous" before giving me a kiss on the forehead.

Andre and I had to say our goodbyes just before I was about to go through security. I watched all the people go through the metal detectors and take off their shoes and I saw families doing it. My eyes filled up with tears knowing that I would be going through there alone.

"What's wrong?" asked Andre.

I shook my head. "Nothing," I turned to him and wrapped my arms around his waist. He put his arms around me and held on tight. "I just don't wanna go."

"I know, baby," he told me. "I know,"

"Promise me something, Andre," I said and pulled away. "I may be far away, but as long as we're still together, we have to stay faithful to each other. Don't get me wrong, I trust you. I trust you with all my heart, I really, really do, but…Andre, girls love you. They…they flirt with you and want you to be with them, but…just…"

"No, I know." he told me and put his hands on my cheeks. "I have your heart and I promise you that I won't break it. Now will you make me a promise?"

"Anything,"

He grabbed my hands and put them over his chest. "You have my heart and I trust you not to break mine."

A single tear fell down my cheek. "I will never break it."

He nodded and smiled and then gave me a kiss. After we pulled apart, he said, "Well…I guess this is it." He wrapped his arms around me and held me close. I did the same. "I'll see you in a year."

I closed my eyes and kept my head against his chest. "But I'll hear your voice very soon. I'm not going to go a day without either seeing you on video chat or talking to you on the phone."

He smiled. "I'll look forward to that." Just then, people started to flood in and slowly head over to security. I just watched them mingle in while I kept my arms around Andre and my head against his chest. People gave us weird looks, but I didn't care. At first, I thought it was because we were hugging in a public place, but I almost instantly realized that they had their opinions about Andre and me together. If you ask me, skin color has nothing to do with love. It's what's on the inside that counts. "Well…I think you need to get going before security gets too jammed packed with people." We pulled apart, but he kept a firm grip on my shoulders. "Go. You don't wanna miss your flight."

I smiled softly and then reached down and picked up my purse and my bag. "Andre?"

"Yes?"

I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around his neck. "I love you."

"I love you, too." he whispered and kissed my forehead.

I hated to pull away from him, but I had to if I didn't wanna feel rushed on time. I took a few steps away from him, gave him one last small smile, turned around, and then headed towards security. I turned back around and looked at him. He smiled as if he was in pain, waved, and turned around to walk away. I'm not gonna lie, to see him turn around so abruptly stung a little. I could feel the pain in my stomach as I went through security and then headed off to my gate to wait for my plane to New York City.

**Btw, when Tori says, "Now shut the door and turn the light off," that's a reference to the song I told you guys to check out: Moments. Please listen to it if you haven't already. It's a great song! :)**


	4. Staying Strong

**Hey guys! Happy Saturday! Hope you're having a good morning/afternoon/evening, wherever you are!**

**Here's chapter 4! And I'm sorry, but this is a short chapter, but I just might upload the next chapter tomorrow. Only if I think you guys want me too. So…let me know! In other words, please review! :)**

Andre's POV

I hated turning away from Tori like that, as if I was mad, but I didn't want her to see the tears that streamed down my face the second I turned away from her. She was already upset enough that she had to leave and go to New York and I didn't wanna make it worse for her. I was happy for her, I really was, but I just didn't know how I'd be able to live without her.

I made a promise to myself as I was getting into my car that whenever I talked to Tori or saw her on video chat, I wouldn't let myself cry. Of course I would tell her I missed her, but I knew that if she thought I was as upset as I was, that she would leave Broadway and come straight back in a heartbeat and I didn't want that. I knew that she would love being a part of "The Wizard of Oz." I would be an awful boyfriend if I didn't let her go along with her dream.

For the rest of the day, I stayed at home. Right after graduation, I moved out of my parent's house and into a small, yet nice apartment. They didn't force me out, but I wanted privacy to work on my music and I wanted to feel independent. That day, I spent it writing one particular song that I titled "Moments." Once I was completely finished with it, I read over the lyrics and I had tears on my cheeks after I read over them. The song was basically about Tori and me and that I wish I could go back in time and spend as much time with her as possible. It also says that I would make our last moment together be a good one.

I don't care what happens in the future; Tori will always be my first love. I thought that I was in love with some of the girls I dated before Tori, but I wasn't, not even close. I didn't even know the meaning of love until I shared it with Tori. Most guys my age are pigs and only want girls for sex, but I can promise that I'm not like that. The first time Tori and I did it, I asked her if she was sure about this, and she told me that she was. If she had said no, I honestly would have been perfectly fine with it. I would never make her do something she wasn't ready to do. The point is, though, that we were both ready and we did do it numerous times in the last ten months or so and it was some of the most incredible moments of my life, just to share something so intimate with the girl that I loved with everything I had.

Just then, my phone started to ring. Without looking at the caller ID, I picked it up and said, "Hello?"

"Andre?"

My heart sped up and I instantly smiled. "Hi Tori," I said. "What's up?"

"Andre…" she said again and this time, I could tell that she was crying.

"Oh, baby, what's wrong?" I asked instantly.

"I…don't wanna be here." she mumbled and let out a sob. "I've only been here for a few hours and I already wanna come home and be with you."

"_Great! Get in a plane and come back here!_" I wanted to say that, but I kept it in my thoughts. I actually said, "Tori, you need to stay there. Rehearsals haven't even started yet. I'm sure once they start, things will get better. Just hang in there, okay?"

"But…but I miss you," she said in between sobs. "I want to see you."

I had a notebook open in my lap, but I immediately closed it when she said that. "Me, too. Wanna video chat?"

"Yes!"

"Okay," I said with a smile. "Just let me get my laptop turned on and then we can video chat."

"Yay!" she said. "But stay on the phone with me until you get it up and running."

I stayed on the phone with her for a couple minutes until I finally got my laptop on. I signed into my video chat and then before long, Tori's face was staring back at me. We laughed and hung up the phone and began to talk for another two hours on video chat. There was nothing better than seeing my beautiful girlfriend's face fill up my computer screen.


	5. Rehearsals

**Alright, guys here's the chapter I promised you! And it's quite a bit longer! Hope you like it!**

**Oh btw, you get introduced to an OC, who's gonna become kind of a main character. See if you can spot which one it is! :)**

Tori's POV

Talking on video chat with Andre was more comforting than Andre will ever realize. The plane ride was good, but once I got to the airport in New York City, I came so close to having a breakdown. I didn't wanna be there at all. The long talk about nothing with Andre was great. Even though we were on opposite sides of the country, it still felt like he was sitting right in front of me. It was times like those that I was very grateful for technology.

The next day, rehearsals began and let me tell you, they were hard. Our director was nice, but he was very precise, so if one person missed one little thing, he would stop the whole scene, tell us what we did wrong in front of everyone, and then start from the beginning of the scene. Even though we hated it and it was really embarrassing sometimes, it was for our own goods. The hardest part for the whole play was when I had to sing "Over the Rainbow." There are so many high notes in that song and I'm not used to singing that high, so I messed up quite a bit at first. This caused the director to point it out every single time. I probably sang that song fifty times a day. I'll never be able to get that song out of my head now.

Rehearsals ran from one in the afternoon to seven in the evening with small breaks in the middle. Since I was so busy, I didn't talk to Andre as much as I would have liked to. We talked on the phone more and on video chat less.

As the time got closer to when performances would start, rehearsals lasted an extra hour in the evening every other day, which meant that we were all exhausted, especially me since I was on stage more than anyone. I had to concentrate on the show 24-7. I found myself repeating my lines to myself before going to bed. I practiced "Over the Rainbow" every night. I wanted to make sure every note was perfect.

Because of the extra rehearsals, Andre and I had trouble staying in contact. One night, we made a deal that we would talk every night starting at 9:00 my time and 6:00 Andre's time and it worked out great. I was always done with rehearsals by that time, so I had time to do that with Andre. I told him all about how rehearsals were going and funny things that my cast mates were doing.

"So I have a question," he asked one night and then took a bite of an apple he was eating.

"Yes?" I asked. I was lying in bed at it was currently 9:40. As soon as Andre and I would get off, I'd go to bed. I was so tired, but I would do anything for Andre.

"Do they have a real dog to play Toto?"

"They do, actually," I told him. "Oh, Andre, you have to see this little dog; he is the cutest thing in the whole wide world. And so well-trained it's crazy! During rehearsals, he's either with the trainer or me and he just loves me!"

"Well, who couldn't love you?" he said.

"Aww," I said with a smile. "You're so sweet."

"I try to be," he said with a shrug.

I giggled and then said, "But, anyway, yeah. He's a really good dog."

"You said that he's well-trained, but he's still a dog." he said. "Doesn't he ever wanna run off or something?"

"Nope," I said with a shake of my head. "He's always well-mannered and behaved. Plus, it doesn't hurt that when I have to call him on stage, I have a little treat in my hand and I give it to him in a way that the audience shouldn't be able to tell. But it'll probably be obvious, because if you look at him as I pick him up, he'll be chewing. It's really cute."

"What about when he needs to just be sitting there?"

"He just sits there." I said. "He doesn't do anything unless someone tells him to. There are a few times where he has to do certain things on stage and there's usually someone either off stage or on stage that prompts him to do it. It works out really well."

"Nice," he commented. "So…I've got another question?"

"Yes?" I said with a smile.

"Out of all the cast members, who are you closest to?"

"Hmm," I said, contemplating that. After a moment, I said, "Probably the girl who plays the good witch, Jenna. She's really sweet and funny. And she's only twenty-five, so she's the one that's closest in age to me." Jenna was probably one of the most beautiful girls (well lady) I'd ever met. She had long curly blond hair and blue eyes. And she had perfect skin. Like no flaws whatsoever. But her beauty matched her personality. She was one of the sweetest people I'd ever met.

"Oh, well that's nice." he said. "Since she's twenty-five, is she married?"

"Well, she like just barely turned twenty-five, but yeah, I think she is." I told him. "And I think she has a kid or two."

He raised his eyebrows. "A kid or two? You can't remember how many kids she told you she has?"

I giggled. "It's been awhile since we've talked about that."

"Well, that's awesome that you've found someone you're close to on the show." he said. "Oh, hey, Tori…guess what my grandma did yesterday?"

It was conversations like that made me feel so lucky to be dating Andre. We always had something to talk about, even if it was about his crazy grandma. The stories he told me about her always cracked me up. My favorite is the one he told me before we even started dating. Andre and I were video chatting and he told me that his grandma had asked him to go to her house because she got scared every time the numbers changed on her clock. I laugh whenever I think about it.

One night, rehearsals ran late. They normally wouldn't have, but my cast mates and I didn't feel like working that day and we just wanted to clown around, which the director didn't like. We tried to take it seriously, but every little thing was making us laugh. Someone dropped something, we would laugh. Someone would flub up their line, we would laugh. The dog that plays Toto would bark, we would laugh. Literally everything was making us laugh. Well, our director didn't find any of the things we thought were funny very funny at all. He said, "I'm not the one performing in front of live audiences in just a few weeks. If you guys think it's funny, then laugh. I don't care. It's your performance."

Those words made us stop laughing as much and we tried to take it more seriously.

Anyway, rehearsals didn't let out until almost 8:30 and then, as a cast, we all decided to go out to eat. I was the youngest cast member by six years, so you'd think it would be awkward that I was so close to all these grownups, but it really wasn't. They treated me like I was one of them and they joked around as if they were teenagers. I loved all the people in the play and I couldn't wait until our performances started.

We were all chatting and having a good time and in the middle of dessert, Jenna and I started an interesting conversation. I ate a few bites of my dessert, but then I had to put my fork down and stop eating. I put my hands over my stomach and said, "Ugh, I'm so full! I don't even know why I ordered this."

"You know, I think you need to finish that dessert, Tori." she told me jokingly. "It looks like you could use some meat on your bones."

I smirked. "If you think I'm thin now, you should have seen me at the end of my junior year."

"Why?"

I sighed shakily and said, "I was anorexic."

Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped a little bit. After a moment, she said, "Really? Seriously?" I nodded. "Like…was it really bad?"

"Well…it was pretty bad." I answered. "At first, I just exercised constantly and ate healthy, but then it got worse. I would hardly eat anything. I got to where I didn't have any energy to even work out."

"Oh, my gosh," she said. "You really thought you were fat?" I nodded. "Dang…that's crazy. And you haven't had a relapse yet?"

"Nope," I said. "And I don't plan on it."

"How'd you get better?"

"Well…my family put me in a rehab center, but I was in denial; I didn't think there was anything wrong with me. It wasn't until one of my best friends, who's a guy, played a song that he wrote for me and it made me realize that what I was doing was wrong."

She smiled. "Aww, that's sweet. Does he know it was his song that made you better?"

"Oh yeah, he knows," I said with a smile. "Something else really special about the song is that he admitted his true feelings for me and as it turned out, I liked him just the same and…well…now we're dating."

"Is he cute?" she asked immediately.

"I think he is." I told her. "And…the thing is…we're…" I bit my lip. "Well…we're not exactly…the same…race."

She eyed me. "In other words…?"

"He's black." I said quickly.

"Ahh," she said finally understanding. "But he treats you good?"

"Oh, my gosh, yes, just like a princess," I told her. "Way better than any of my other boyfriends have,"

"Well, that's all that counts," she said. "Plus, color doesn't matter anyway."

"Very true,"

"But…if you were to ask my family, they wouldn't like it." she said. "They think that two people are only good together if they're the same race, but I don't think that way."

I nodded. "Yeah, everyone will have their opinion. We've gotten weird looks from people before and we simply ignore it."

"That's all you really can do." she said. "So…are you guys still able to stay in contact now that you're doing this show?"

"Yeah, we're finding ways to talk." I told her. "In fact, every night at–" Just then, realization hit me and my heart started pounding out of my chest. I looked around, in frantic search of a clock, but I couldn't find one. I immediately pulled out my phone and saw the time: 9:22. Crap.

I covered one hand over my mouth. "Oh, my God."

"What happened?" asked Jenna nervously. "Is everything okay?"

I put my phone down, covered my face with my hands, and groaned loudly. "Oh, man, Jenna! I screwed up!"

"Why?" she asked, getting more and more nervous. "What happened?"

"Every night, Andre and I get on video chat at exactly 9:00 our time and it's 9:22!" I groaned. "Ugh and I'm late!"

"Andre?" she asked confused.

"My boyfriend!" I exclaimed and then jumped out of my chair. I grabbed my laptop from the bag over my chair and then ran out of the room and out of the restaurant. I sat down on a chair outside and then immediately turned my laptop on. I swear, it wouldn't turn on fast enough.

As soon as it was on, I went to my video chat profile and saw that Andre was already online. I sighed shakily and requested a video chat. Just seconds later, his face filled up the screen. I smiled and said, "Hey Andre, what's going on?"

He nodded once and then said, "Not much…I've just been sitting here waiting to talk to my girlfriend, but…I guess she had other priorities."

I groaned and said, "Andre, I'm so sorry! I seriously didn't mean to be so late! It's just that rehearsals ran late today and then my cast mates and I went out to eat and I just now looked at my phone and saw the time; I am so sorry!" I rubbed my hands over my face. "Ugh, Andre, I feel awful! I'm sorry!"

He let out a giggle. "Baby, calm down." he said gently. "It's okay. I know you have other priorities; I wasn't being sarcastic and I'm not mad. I understand."

"But…but it's our time together." I said. "I should have realized that."

"I know, but it's okay; you were just busy." he told me. "I'm not mad at you."

"You promise?"

"Yes, I promise," he said. "I completely understand."

"I care about you so much, Andre." I told him. "I hope you know that."

"I do," he said with a smile. "And I hope you know that I really care about you."

My heart fluttered and I smiled widely. "Yeah, I know."

"Good," he said and then sighed. "Well…I hate doing this, but…I gotta go."

Just as quickly as my heart fluttered, it sank. "Really?"

"Yeah," he said quietly. "I made plans to go to dinner with Robbie, Cat, Beck, and Jade at 6:45ish, so I've got to leave in just a few minutes to get to the restaurant on time."

I gulped as my eyes filled up with tears. "I miss all of you guys so much. Will you please tell them I said hi?"

"Of course I will," he said. "And I know they miss you, too."

Those words didn't make me feel better, but I didn't let Andre know that. I simply nodded and said, "Yeah,"

"Well…I guess…I'll talk to you tomorrow night?" he said as if it was a question.

"Yeah, you will," I said instantly. "I promise you will. I won't be late like I was tonight."

"Tori, I wish you would relax." he told me. "I'm not mad at all. I understand that sometimes things get in the way. I'm just thankful that I'm getting to see your beautiful face right now."

"If I could kiss you right now, I would." I said shakily.

He kissed his hand and then touched the screen and I did the same. "I guess this will do for now." he said. "But don't worry…it won't be long before we see each other again."

"Yeah," I mumbled.

"I love you, sweetheart." he said in his soothing voice that he knows I love so much.

I bit my lip and said, "I love you, too."

"I hope you have a good night." he said.

"You, too," I said. "Don't forget to tell everyone I said hi."

"I won't," He slightly smiled. "Bye,"

"See ya," I said and he clicked off. I kept it up and then saw that he signed out of video chat.

I sat there for a few minutes, trying to stop myself from crying, before going back in the restaurant. Everyone could tell I was upset, but they didn't say anything. The only one that said something was Jenna and all I said back to her was, "Don't worry, everything's fine."

For the rest of dinner, all I could think was, "Don't you dare be late again for a video chat with Andre."

**The OC I was talking about is Jenna! And so you guys know what to picture when you think of her, think Carrie Underwood, voice and all. That's how I picture Jenna (:**

**Alright, until next chapter!**


	6. Trying to Make it Work

**Alright, so I don't have much of an author's note for this chapter, but I do wanna say one thing: you guys may not like this chapter a whole lot. But nevertheless, I still hope you enjoy it!**

Tori's POV

That was the last night for awhile that I forgot about my video chat dates with Andre. The next night, we were both on time and talked for an hour. He told me that he did tell the gang I said hi and that they said hi back. He told me that they all missed me, even Jade. "Wait, Jade actually said that she missed me?" I asked him. Jade and I were now friends, but it was still hard to imagine that she actually missed me.

"Yeah and we all gave her a hard time about it." he said. "Her face turned bright red and she said some kind of rude, sarcastic remark, but it was okay. It was actually really funny."

I laughed and said, "I'm sure it was." It was our small talk conversations that I loved the most.

It was a week and a half before our Broadway shows were gonna start when things took a turn for the worse between Andre and I. Since performances were fast approaching, we were at rehearsals for long hours with minimal breaks. At this point, we all had our lines down perfectly and how we were supposed to deliver them, but we were now doing full run-throughs of the play numerous times in the day, which meant I was always more tired than anyone else. My days consisted of rehearsing, eating, and sleeping.

Anyway, since I was so tired, when I got in at 8:00 or a little after, I would immediately take a shower and then go to sleep. I was just so exhausted that I forgot about the video chat dates with Andre. I always remembered the next morning and felt awful about it and I would tell myself to not forget that night, but I was even more tired that night it seemed. I still talked to Andre on the phone in the mornings, which was usually when I apologized to him. He told me he wasn't mad, but I could tell he was.

After this happened the fourth time, while on the phone with him one morning, I said, "Andre, are you mad?"

"No," he said bluntly.

"Andre, come on," I said. "I can tell when you're mad; I know you too well."

He sighed. "It's just…I tell myself not to get angry, but…I can't help it. Tori, you're about to go off for a year and we'll hardly get to talk at all. This is our last week to talk over video chat and you seem to always forget about it. It's like it's not important enough to you."

I gritted my teeth. "You think I don't wanna talk to you?"

"At times, that's how it seems." he said, slightly angrily.

"Andre, you are the most important person in my life!" I exclaimed. "I wanna talk to you more than anything, but you don't understand how tired I am every night when I get back from rehearsals! I already feel guilty enough about missing these video chat dates; why do you have to make it worse?"

"Well, if you really feel guilty about it, I don't think you'd forget as much as you do." he said. Now he was angry.

"Andre, have you ever been so exhausted that you can hardly keep your eyes open?" I exclaimed. "Have you ever been so exhausted that all you want to do is crawl into your bed and go to sleep? Tell me, have you ever been that tired? Because if you haven't, then you have no right to get so mad at me over this!"

We continued to fight for another thirty minutes. That was our first major fight and it definitely wasn't our last. It's like it opened up the door for a billion other fights.

Most of the time, the fights were over stupid issues and I always fought back hard, whether it was my fault or not and to be honest, it was my fault half the time. I think it was because I was so grumpy from being so tired. It got to where we couldn't talk for more than just a few minutes and one of us would find something to fight about. No matter how hard I tried, fights still happened. I was getting sick and tired of all this fighting. It was at this point that I regretted entering a relationship with Andre. I missed the times when we were simply best friends.

A few days before performances started, rehearsals slowed down a bit and I got more sleep, which meant I wasn't as grouchy as I was before. I didn't talk to Andre for a day or two, because I didn't wanna get into a fight. He called me and requested video chats, but I ignored them all. It hurt me so much to press ignore on my phone and decline the video chats.

The day before performances started, my cast mates and I got the day off. Everyone in production, especially our director, wanted us to be completely rested up before our first show the next night, which would be right there in New York. After that, we would travel around the country to different theater halls. I was nervous, but I was also really excited. I couldn't wait to play Dorothy in front of everyone.

I spent the whole day pacing in my temporary apartment, pondering if I should do what I was planning on doing. I made a pros and cons list and I hate to say that I had more pros than cons. Then once it got to be 9:00 in the evening, I signed into video chat and saw that Andre was online. I requested to chat and I prayed to God that he wouldn't decline it.

A little bit later, he accepted it and his face filled my screen. I softly smiled and said, "Hi Andre,"

"Hi Tori," he said. I could tell he wasn't very happy. "What do you want?"

I sighed shakily, not liking the tone of his voice. "I'm sorry I've been avoiding you. I just know that if we talk, we're gonna fight. I didn't know any other way around it. I'm so sorry."

"Why do you think I was trying to talk to you?" he exclaimed. "I was trying to fix things!"

"And how's that working out for you?" I asked. "You just got mad at me for apologizing to you. Obviously nothing I do is good enough."

"No, Tori, I didn't say that." he said immediately. "I just don't understand why you would avoid me so much. Do you wanna explain that to me?"

I took a deep breath and said to myself, "_Here goes nothing_,"

"Andre, there's no easy way to say this, so…I'm just gonna come right out and say it." I took a deep breath. "I think…I think we should break up."

The look on Andre's face broke my heart. I could literally see the change in his eyes. He looked like he wanted to cry, but he was holding back from doing that. When he finally spoke, he said, "But…Tori…no. You're the best girlfriend I've ever had–"

"And you're the best boyfriend I've ever had." I told him gently. "But…our fighting lately has gotten completely out of control and…I'm getting sick and tired of it. I love you, Andre, I really do, but…I just think it's time we break up and go on our different ways."

"We can still make it work!" he said in a pleading voice. "We can make a pact to not fight anymore."

"That's not possible." I told him. "Fights will happen; they always do. And…Andre, you know how worried I've been about trying to manage my time between rehearsals and trying to talk to you on time every night, but as you know, I've been forgetting since I've been so busy and tired lately. Think about it, Andre…I'll be under even more stress once performances start. Everything will be go, go, go for so long and I'll be under a lot of pressure and…I don't need to worry about anything but that. I'm sorry, but I think it's what we should do."

He looked around for a little bit and then he rubbed his hands over his face. He wouldn't admit it, but I knew he was wiping the tears out of his eyes. Andre was a big softy. "Well…I'm saying no, but…it seems like you've made up your mind."

I nodded. "Yeah," I sighed heavily. "It's just…I don't know. I don't know what else to say besides I'm sorry we couldn't make it work out."

"Does this mean we'll never talk again?"

"No, of course not!" I exclaimed. "My goodness no. We'll always be friends."

He slowly shook his head and said, "Tori…after everything we've been through and done…I don't think I could just be friends with you. I've loved you for so long."

"I love you, too." I said shakily. "I'm sorry. That's…it's all I know to say." I looked down at the ground and twiddled my thumbs. I didn't know what else to do.

"Well…" said Andre, breaking me out of my trance. I looked at him. "I gotta go."

I nodded. "Alright,"

He barely smiled at me. "Night Tori," Then he clicked out of video chat.

I didn't know it at the time, but that was the last time I'd see him or hear his voice in a very long time.


	7. Walls of My Heart

**Alright, chapter 7! This is kind of a turning point chapter, so it's a big one!**

**Hope you enjoy! And don't forget…please review! :)**

Tori's POV

It was the night of our first big performance. I was backstage, in costume, and ready to go. But here was the thing…I was scared to death. I'd been in many plays before courtesy of Hollywood Arts, but this was Broadway. Broadway! This was the big leagues. I'd never been more scared in all my life.

My nerves must have showed, because Jenna walked up to me, in costume as well, and said, "Tori, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

I looked up at her. I sighed shakily and said, "Jenna…I can't do this." I slowly stood up and walked up to the curtains. I ever so slightly peaked out at the audience. Seeing the huge crowd caused me to start hyperventilating. "Oh, my God," I whispered. I turned around. "No. I'm done. My understudy can do this."

I turned to walk away and go to my dressing room, but Jenna grabbed my arm and stopped me. "Tori, look at me," she said and grabbed my other arm and made me look at her. "Listen to me, Tori, okay? I know how this feels. In high school, I used to get stage fright too. It was so bad that I wanted to quit. But I told myself that everyone that's in that audience was on my side. They weren't there to see me fail. They were there to see me succeed. And that's just how it is for you tonight. It's okay that you're nervous, but you can't give up. You can't just let go. And besides, you know this stuff. You have those lines memorized like the back of your own hand. At our last dress rehearsal…" She shook her head. "Oh, my God, you were amazing. And you're gonna be amazing tonight. Just go out there and do the very best you can. And people will love you. You're gonna own that stage tonight, dear." She gave me a hug. "We all believe in you."

I actually teared up hearing her words. When we pulled out of the hug, I said, "Jenna, you're amazing."

She smiled. "Thanks. But so are you, Miss Dorothy."

I smiled back. "Thank you, Miss Glenda."

We both laughed, but then an announcement was made that it was time for everyone to take their places. Jenna looked at me, gave me a nod, and whispered, "You got this, girl," before giving me another quick hug and walking away. I got where I was supposed to be and waited. Then once it was my cue, I ran out on stage for the first time, officially, as Dorothy Gale from Kansas.

…

I gotta say that the next year was the best year of my entire life. Performing in my checkered blue dress, red ruby slippers, and hair in two French braids almost every night was just a dream come true. My two favorite parts of the night was when I sang "Over the Rainbow" and at the very end when I got all the applause. The way it worked was that my cast mates came out, in order from less on stage time to most on stage time. This meant that I was always last and, obviously, since I was the main character, I got the most applause. The standing ovations usually started when the three men who played the scarecrow, the tin man, and the cowardly lion came out, but they went absolutely insane when I walked out and took my bow. It was making all those intense rehearsals days worth it. I'm so glad that Jenna helped me get over my stage fright. I thanked her all the time for that.

At the beginning of our tour, I assumed that the time would go by really slow, but in fact, it went by really fast. We performed so many times that in my dreams, I could see myself singing "Over the Rainbow" with the audience staring back at me. I would wake up with a smile on my face. Numerous times, when my cast mates and I would go out to breakfast, I would be singing that song unintentionally. It was almost always stuck in my head.

At the end of that year of performing, I simply couldn't believe that it was over. The day after our last show, my cast mates and I were all at a wrap party, including all the production staff and even family members. My family wasn't there, because of stupid bad weather storms in and around LA. All the flights for the past two days had been cancelled.

After talking with a group of people, I walked away to go to the bathroom. When I came out, Jenna and a guy quite a bit younger than her was walking towards me. From where they were, he looked so adorable. He was quite a bit taller than me, had dark brown hair, and a dazzling smile. "Hey Tori." she said and gave me a hug.

I hugged her back and said, "Hi." When we pulled apart, I looked at the boy next to her and he smiled. I don't know if it was the vibe he put out, but I could just tell that he had such a warm personality. "Who's that?"

"This…" said Jenna with a smile and she put her hand on his shoulder. "Is my baby brother, Mr. Caleb Thomas." She looked at Caleb. "And, Caleb, this is the lovely lady who has played Dorothy the past year, Miss Tori Vega."

Caleb and I looked at each other in the eyes and it was the first time in a long time that I felt a special connection like that with someone. He had beautiful crystal eyes of blue. We both smiled at each other. "Tori Vega," he said and smiled. He held his hand out and I grabbed it. "It's nice to meet you."

"You too," I said and we released hands.

"Oh, and just so you know, I'm not a baby." he said, giving his sister a glare. He looked back at me. "I'm twenty-two and just graduated from college. Yeah, so, that proves that I'm not a baby."

I giggled. "It's okay and I know how you feel. I have a sister who's just a year older than me and she always calls me her baby sister. At first, it was really annoying, but I've gotten used to it."

"Well, that's different." he said jokingly. "You're a girl and I'm a boy. It's not the same."

"Oh really?" I said and crossed my arms. "And how is it any different?"

"It just is!"

Jenna looked between us and then said, "Uh…I'll let you two talk." She flashed each of us a smile and walked off.

"So…" he started off.

"So…" I said.

He giggled. "Wanna go sit down?"

"Sure," I said and we headed to the nearest booth and set across from each other. "So…"

"Okay, before we say 'so' a million more times, I'm gonna start a real conversation," he said. "So what's up?"

I set there and giggled for a moment. I already loved Caleb's sense of humor. I think that's why I liked Caleb so much so quickly. Andre always used to know how to make me laugh and something about Caleb reminded me of Andre. "Well…for the past year…I'd been traveling around the country and playing 'Dorothy' in 'The Wizard of Oz.' Now…I'm at this wrap party, talking to a boy who is the brother of the lady who plays the good witch in the play. What's up with you?"

"Oh, nothing…just talking to the most beautiful girl in the whole wide world." He flashed me a really sweet smile.

I smiled back at him, but didn't say anything at first. I looked at the ground and then cleared my throat. "Um…thanks,"

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Well…it's just…it's been so long since a guy has said something like that to me."

"Really?" he asked and I nodded. "Wow…I'd think that a girl like you would you get that kind of compliment all the time."

"You're too sweet." I said with a smile. "But…no. The last guy who said that to me was…my boyfriend, but…we broke up a year ago…before these performances started. We were fighting really badly and I didn't wanna have to stress out about it while on Broadway, so I ended it. I felt really bad about it, because I think I really hurt him. I haven't talked to him since."

"I'm sorry." he said. "I bet he was a jerk anyway."

"No, he wasn't," I said immediately. "He was an amazing boyfriend and treated me great; we just couldn't figure out how to get along anymore."

"Well, I bet you're better off without him."

My eyes filled up with tears when he said that. "He was my best friend, Caleb." I told him. "Before we got together, he was just my best friend and…now I wish we had stayed that way. I haven't talked to him in a year and it's killing me." I rubbed my hands over my eyes and forehead. "I miss him so much."

"So…why did you guys get together if you were just friends?"

I sighed shakily. "Well…it's a long story."

I spent the next twenty minutes explaining everything from getting into Hollywood Arts, meeting Andre, and then I skipped all the way to my junior year and explained about my eating disorder and how it started. Then I told him that Andre was the one who made me better. Caleb listened carefully and would occasionally make a comment to let me know he was still listening. I have to admit that it felt great telling this story to someone.

I didn't know it at the time, but as I was talking to Caleb, revealing my true self to him, I was tearing down the walls in my heart that I didn't even know were around it. My breakup with Andre had hurt me more than I thought.

When the party was over, I called a cab to take me back to my apartment. The next morning, I would get in a plane and fly back to LA. I was sad to leave New York City, but I was also looking forward to getting back to the laidback lifestyle of California.

While I was waiting for the cab, I heard the door to the party open and close. I turned around and saw Caleb walking towards me. I smiled softly and said, "Hi Caleb. What's up?"

He walked right up to me and said, "I'm sorry, but I forgot something."

"What did you forget?" I asked confused.

"This," he said quietly and then slowly put his hand against my cheek. He leaned in slowly and then our lips touched and we kissed. It was my first time kissing a man in so long and it felt nice. Caleb moved his hands and slipped them around my waist and I put mine around his neck. My heart was definitely pounding out of my chest, my stomach was doing flips, and my head felt like it was going to explode. I hadn't felt this way in such a long time.

When we finally pulled apart, he said, "Hey can I see your phone?"

"Uh…why?" I was still staring into his gorgeous blue eyes.

"Please?" he begged and gave him his best puppy dog eyes.

"Grr," I said and pulled out my phone. "Pretty good,"

"I got skills." he said and looked down at my phone. He unlocked it, but then I could see disappointment in his eyes.

He looked at me and I smirked. "What's the matter? Don't know my four-digit pass code?"

He showed it to me and I pressed the four numbers in there and it unlocked. "There you go." I said.

"Thanks," he said and he started to mess with my phone. I looked at what he was doing and saw that he was adding his number to my contacts.

I crossed my arms and said jokingly, "And who said I wanted your number?"

He looked at me and smiled a cute lopsided grin. My knees almost went weak. "The look on your face tells me that you want it."

"Give me your phone." I said and he pulled his phone out of his pocket. He handed it to me and I unlocked it (without having to put a pass code in it) and I put my number in his phone.

Once we'd exchanged numbers, we gave our phones back to each other and simply smiled. Just then, the cab drove up and parked next to the curb. "Well…I guess I'll see you later." he said.

"Yeah," I told him. "I'll call you." I held up my phone and spun it around in my hands. Then I turned around and opened the door to the cab and got in. I waved at Caleb and he waved at me. The cab driver drove off and took me to my apartment.

I still couldn't believe the luck I'd had with Caleb. He was just so cute and so sweet. I couldn't wait to start talking to him. There was something about him that was captivating. I really felt something with Caleb and who knew that he was the brother of the lady who played the good witch. I wish Jenna had told me about her freaking adorable little brother!


	8. Moving On

Andre's POV

After the breakup with Tori, I began to focus more on my music career. I was getting more and more successful; I had a record deal and I was in the middle of writing songs. It would be awhile before I had an album out, which was okay, because writing songs for an album doesn't need to be stressful. It simply was not a race.

That coming up January, I met someone. It had been four months since my breakup with Tori and the last time I'd talked to her. It was the longest gap between relationships I'd ever had. I gotta admit, it was nice to be single for awhile. I didn't have to worry about anyone else; I could just focus on my music. And I wasn't mad at Tori. To be honest, though, I was a little angry at her for breaking up with me, but I realized later that it really was in everyone's best interests. She was focusing on her Broadway shows and I was focusing on my music. Even if we hadn't broken up, we would hardly ever talk because I was super busy and I know she was just as busy. Plus, our fights really were starting to get out of control. I'm glad we ended it when we did.

Anyway, this one day in January while I was walking through the mall, trying to clear my head from a writer's block, I ran into a girl; literally, I ran into her. I wasn't looking at where I was going and neither was she. She was looking down at her phone, oblivious to everything around her. It wasn't until we bumped into each other that we looked in front of us.

My breath was taken away. This lady was drop-dead gorgeous. She had dark blond hair that came just a few inches past her shoulders, hazel eyes, a beautiful olive complexion, and she stood about half a head shorter than me; she looked to be about the same age as me. She smiled at me and she sure did have a dazzling smile. "Oh…hi," She cleared her throat. "I guess I wasn't watching where I was going. I'm sorry."

"No…it's cool," I said slowly. "I wasn't paying attention either."

"Then I guess we're both at fault!" she said with a giggle.

I smiled and nodded. "I guess so."

We stood there in an awkward silence for a moment before I finally said, "Well…there's a bench right there."

"_Really Andre?_" I said to myself.

She nodded and said, "Yeah…I see it."

"Well…do you wanna sit down?"

"Sure," she said and we went and sat on it. We faced each other. "Oh, by the way, my name's Libby." She held out her hand.

I shook it and said, "Hi Libby. I'm Andre,"

"Nice to meet you," she said. Then we jumped into a long small talk conversation. We would be talking about one thing, but then jump to another subject. It was so easy to talk to her; I told her everything about my past, including Tori. She even told me about some past relationships gone wrong and I listened carefully as she explained.

It was nice to have this kind of connection with someone again.

After that, it was history. Libby and I instantly got together and we became closer than ever. She lived in her apartment and I lived in mine, but we still saw each other every day. I couldn't understand why all her boyfriends before were such jerks to her. It was probably the same reason why Tori's past relationships didn't work out. I guess good girls seem to get the bad end of the stick a lot and it's not fair. Even though I was with someone else, I hoped that Tori could someday find someone who treats her well. She deserves it.

It was a day in September, after we'd been dating for eight months, when Libby and I got the shock of our lives. Libby hadn't been feeling that well and I figured it was because of her busy schedule: she was taking a few college courses and also had a small part time job. She was always running back and forth, running herself ragged I thought. So when she told me that she'd been feeling under the weather, I told her that she should go to the doctor and get herself checked out. She was really stubborn about it, but she finally agreed with me and decided to go.

I was at my apartment when she called me after going to the doctor's office. "Andre?" she asked. I could tell by her voice that she was scared.

"Hey, Libby, what's wrong?" I asked.

"Um…can I come to your apartment? We need to talk."

"Of course," I told her. "Come on over,"

We hung up the phone and I waited. She didn't live far away from me, but it always took her about ten minutes to get to my house. That day, though, it took her five minutes. Without knocking or ringing my doorbell, she barged in the apartment. "Hey, thanks for knocking," I said jokingly.

"Shut up," she said and threw her purse on the couch and crossed her arms. "This is serious."

"Okay, I'm sorry," I said. "What's going on?"

She sighed nervously. "Andre…um…I'm…um…" She looked me right in the eyes. "I'm pregnant."

"You're what?" I exclaimed, thinking that maybe I'd heard her wrong.

"I'm pregnant, Andre." she repeated to me.

I was having trouble comprehending this. Libby was pregnant? Oh, my God! We'd only done it one time and she gets pregnant? What's up with that? It's not supposed to work out that way! "I…I just…are you sure?"

"Yes," she said. "The doctor confirmed it and he set me up another appointment at the hospital for next week. This is really happening."

"Oh, man, this is crazy!" I said and ran my hand through my hair. I stared at the floor in disbelief for a moment, still not able to comprehend this. Eventually, I looked up at Libby. "We're really gonna be parents."

"You mean…you're not leaving me?"

"What?" I exclaimed. "Why would I leave you?"

"Well…because that's how most guys are." she said shakily. "And…it happened to one of my friends in high school. She was dating some guy, he got her pregnant, and then he left. She didn't know how she could support her baby and her parents made it clear that they weren't gonna help out, so…so she gave her baby girl up for adoption. I'd never seen her that upset before." She hesitated. "Then…today…when I found out I was pregnant…my mind went right back to that and…I thought you would be just like that other guy."

I walked right up to her and took her in my arms. I held her in silence for a moment before kissing her forehead and saying, "I would never do that to you. You're gonna be a mommy and I'm gonna be a daddy and we will give that baby the best life we can give it."

She gulped. "I love you, Andre."

"I love you, too, Libby." I said and we pulled out of the hug. I took her face in my hands and kissed her. I made a vow to myself that, whether or not Libby and I stayed together in the future, I would give my baby boy or girl everything. I would make sure that my baby would get everything he or she deserved.

**Hi, hi! Haha, bet you didn't see that one coming, did you? Well, at least this quickly. I know it might seem like things are moving along quickly and I guess in a way they kind of are. I'm trying to get past all these other details to get to the main part of the story.**

**I know it might seem like Andre and Libby met, started dating, and she immediately got pregnant. Well, no. If you remember right, they'd been dating for seven months (eight when she found out she was pregnant). So it took time. I just didn't go into all the details of that seven month relationship. But use your imaginations, my lovely readers! :)**

**So what do you think of Libby? And Caleb from the last chapter? Review and let me know! :D**


	9. Decisions, Decisions

**Hey guys! What's up? So two big things are happening to today…one, NEW VICTORIOUS TONIGHT! WOO-HOO! I'm so excited for that! We've seriously waited too long for this! So glad it's finally here!**

**And the second thing…it is someone's birthday today and it's one of our own! She goes by the username JustTrustMe on here and I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think she's 19 today. And that's awesome! I turned 19 back in July and I know how excited she must be (and she's a twin, so I know her twin must be excited as well)! If you have an account, go to her page and PM her and wish her a very happy birthday! And if you don't, just review to this chapter and I'll try to get her to go read your birthday messages to her. So even if you don't like this chapter, you should still review and wish her a happy birthday! Seriously, you should…she is so sweet and amazing and if it wasn't for her, you wouldn't be reading this; she helped me figure out fanfiction (I know I mention that a lot, but it just goes to show how grateful I am).**

**So…yeah. Go wish this girl (and her twin sister) a happy birthday. They both deserve it! :D**

**Okay, here's chapter 9! Enjoy! :)**

Tori's POV

"He's what?" I screeched.

Jade nodded. "Yep. He and his girlfriend, or soon-to-be wife, are gonna have a baby."

"That's insane!" I exclaimed. I was out eating with Jade and Cat and it was the first time I'd seen them in over a year. I'd only been back in LA for a few days at this point. I loved being back, but I was already missing New York City. To be completely honest, I kind of wanted to go back there…and stay. "How far along is she?"

"Well, she just found out last week, but I think Andre said she's like a month." answered Jade. "So it's still early."

I nodded. "And how does Andre feel about all this?"

"He's excited!" said Cat. "But also really nervous. It was totally unexpected."

"Obviously," I muttered to myself. I looked at Jade and asked, "And what's this girl's name again?"

"Libby," said Jade.

"What's she like?"

Jade and Cat glanced at each other and then looked back at me. "She's okay," said Jade. "But…there's something about her that seems really suspicious."

"Suspicious how?"

"Well…she seems kind of fake to me." said Jade. "I don't know, I just have a bad feeling about her. I hope she doesn't hurt Andre."

"Yeah, because he really loves her!" said Cat with a smile. "They're so cute together!"

"Uh huh…" I mumbled and looked down at my food and took a small bite.

"Cat!" snapped Jade and gently smacked her shoulder.

"Ow!" said Cat. "What did I say?"

"You said that Andre was in love with Libby right in front of Tori," said Jade. I laughed at the irony. Jade probably forgot I was there. "Don't say that."

"Oh, my gosh, Tori, I'm so sorry!" said Cat immediately. "I shouldn't have said that!"

"It's fine, Cat," I said and smiled. "Besides…I think I've found someone else as well."

"Oh really?" said Jade with a slight smile. "And who is it?"

"Well…okay, the lady who played the good witch, Jenna, has a brother who's only twenty-two; his name is Caleb and he is so cute!" I explained. "We met at the wrap party and just got to talking. I told him everything about me and it was nice. I hadn't opened up like that to someone in a long time. Then…just before I left for the night…he followed me outside and while I was waiting for my cab, we shared a nice kiss and then exchanged numbers."

"And have you talked to him yet?" asked Cat excitedly.

"Every day since," I told her. "He's so sweet and I can't wait to see him again."

"But he lives on the other side of the country." said Jade. "How would you even get to see him?"

"Well…that's the thing," I said and sighed nervously. "I know I haven't spent a whole lot of time in just New York City since I've been traveling a lot, but I have spent approximately two months there and I love it there so much. It's just such a beautiful city and there are so many things to do there. Well…there are things to do here, but…I don't know. Something about New York is different and I think that's just it. It's something different and I like to try new things, so–"

"Get to the point!" exclaimed Jade.

"I'm thinking about moving there." I said quickly.

"What?" Jade and Cat exclaimed at the same time. "But you just came home!" said Cat. "Why would you wanna go back there?"

"Come on, Cat, don't you keep up?" said Jade sarcastically. "It's all because of Caleb." The way she said his name was as if he was kind of disease.

"What?" I said. "No, it's not. And don't say his name like that. He's a nice guy."

"Is he?" asked Jade. "And how long have you known him?"

I rolled my eyes. "It doesn't matter. The point is that if we were to date, he would treat me right and be a great boyfriend."

"Yes, because it's not like you didn't have a great boyfriend before." she said. "And you just decided to throw that away."

"No!" I said and stood up. "Don't you dare get into mine and Andre's business!"

"Tori, I'm already in it." she said and stood up. "Andre told us everything. He told us all about the fights you guys had and that you broke up with him because of it. Now I know that Libby is a little strange, but she would never leave him because of something that stupid. And if they fight, they would find a way to make it work. Not just break up when the first fight comes along,"

"Whose side are you on?" I said. "There was a reason behind my breakup. I didn't do it because I weak or because I wanted to hurt Andre. I would never want to hurt him. He was my best friend before we even dated. You will never have that kind of connection with him."

"No, but you do know that I've known him longer than you have?" she asked. "By the time you came to Hollywood Arts, I'd already known him for over a year. I've had more time with him, Tori. Don't you dare say you know him better than I do."

"Yeah, well, you didn't…" I bit my lip to stop from saying what I wanted to say. Mine and Andre's private business was our own and no one else's. Instead, I cleared my throat and grabbed my jacket and my purse. "Look…maybe you've known him longer, but I'm closer to him. I know secrets about him that you can't even begin to imagine."

I turned to walk away, but just before I stepped out of hearing distance, I heard Jade say, "If that's true, why haven't you guys talked in a year?"

I ignored her and walked out of that restaurant.

I got in my car and quickly drove to my parents' house. I had to talk to them about this.

I used my key to get in the house, but as it turned out, the door was already unlocked. I walked in and saw my mom in the kitchen. "Hi Mom," I said and closed the door.

"Hi sweetie," she said with a smile. "Did you have fun with Cat and Jade?"

"Yeah, but it didn't end well." I said and plopped on the couch. "Jade and I got into a fight."

"Aw, what happened?" she asked and walked out of the kitchen and into the living room.

"Well…I don't know, I was just telling them about this boy I met named Caleb and how we've really connected. I told them that he's really sweet and they understood that, but he lives in New York and that's when Jade asked how I would get to see him. Long story short…I told her I want to move to New York."

My mom raised her eyebrows. "Because of a boy? You wanna move across the country because of a boy?"

"No!" I said. "That's not the main reason! I wanna go there because New York City is an amazing city. There are an infinite number of things to do–"

"There are also an infinite number of things to do here." she said.

"Please, Mom, let me finish," I said. "It's just…I think that going there would be what's best. I've spent probably two months total there and I love it. It's something different than LA. Mom, I have grown up in Los Angeles and I have loved it, I really have, but…I'm almost a grown-up. I'm about to be twenty and then a year later, I'll be twenty-one. I think I'm old enough to make my own decisions." She raised her eyebrows. "I know, I know…I sound like some spoiled brat, but I'm just saying. I want to live there. I feel like I could thrive out there. I really, really want to make a life out there. I could make it work. And Caleb could help me out." I smiled. "I think he really likes me."

"How old is he?"

I bit my lip. "Twenty-two…but he's so sweet! And, besides, that's only a three-year age different. It's not that bad."

"Mmm," she said, thinking about it. "Well…whatever the case…if you and he are really serious, I'd like to meet him; your father and I both. We need to make sure he's good for you."

"I think he really is."

"Okay, how long have you known him?" she asked.

"Uh…a few days,"

"Alrighty then," she said and giggled. "How do you know he's good for you if you've only known him for a few days?"

"Mom, I just know, okay?"

"Okay, okay," she said, holding up her hands. "I give up." Then she said jokingly, "But don't come crying to me if he hurts you."

"Ha, ha," I said and gave her a hug. "Don't worry…that won't ever happen."

**…careful what you say, Tori.**


	10. Branson

*8 months later*

Andre's POV

It was late in the evening and I was at the studio, recording a few new songs that I had recently wrote. It was taking a long time since I was changing a few of the lyrics up. It's really weird, because you could write the most perfect song, but then once you get to the studio, you have to change it up because the music doesn't fit right with it. I don't know, it's really odd and something I don't like about recording. But if I wanted to come out with my album, I better get used to it.

While playing a few chords on my guitar, someone stepped in the studio and said, "Hey Andre?"

I looked up and noticed that it was the guy who ran the studio and he was holding a phone in his hand. "Yeah?"

He held it out for me. "Phone for you,"

"Who is it?" I asked as I put my guitar down and walked over to him.

"Your wife," he answered. "And she sounds desperate," Libby and I had only been husband and wife for probably five months. We basically eloped. We just didn't care enough to have a big white wedding.

My heart started pounding extra hard when he said that. I grabbed the phone nervously and said, "Hello?"

"Andre?" said Libby. She sounded like she was in pain. "It's me,"

"Hey," I said gently. "Are you doing alright?" Libby was a full, nine months pregnant and huge. The doctor said that it could be any day now.

"I don't know." she said. "I've been having contractions for the past two hours and the whole time, I thought that it was false labor, but…I don't think it is." She let out a few shaky sighs. "I'm scared."

"It's okay, baby, calm down." I said, trying to ease her nerves. "What's going on?"

She let out a small sob. "My water broke."

I immediately jumped out of my chair. "I'm on my way right now."

"Hurry, Andre, it really…oh, my gosh." She let out a long moan. "It hurts."

"I know it does, Libby." I said gently and walked out of the studio. I was headed for the door to go outside. "Listen to me, honey…I will stay on the phone with you, okay? Don't hang up. We will hang up with I'm standing in front of you, but not until then, alright? Just hang in there."

Her only response was a long groan.

It took me about ten minutes to get to our apartment (what was once just her apartment, but once we got married, I moved into hers since it was bigger) but it seemed like I was never gonna get there. I stayed on the phone with Libby the whole time while driving and I talked to her soothingly and I think it helped her to remain calm.

As soon I got home, I grabbed Libby's already-packed bag from our bedroom, got her in the car, and we drove to the hospital. All the way there, I kept one hand on the wheel and my other hand holding Libby's hand tightly. All I could think was, it won't be long before I see my baby now.

Seven hours and twenty-four minutes later, on May tenth at exactly 3:42 in the morning, my baby boy came into this world. I told myself ahead of time that I wouldn't cry during this moment, but I couldn't help it. Libby was practically bawling while I just had tears falling down my cheeks. I couldn't stop staring at his adorable little face while resting against Libby's chest. His cries were like music to my ears.

A few minutes later, he was taken to get measured and weighed. Libby and I were informed that he was 20 inches long and weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces. Then he was wrapped in a blanket and they put a beanie over his head and he was brought back to Libby's arms. Libby leaned down and kissed his forehead and I gently rubbed my hand over his little head. He was absolutely perfect in every single way.

After a moment, one of the nurses asked, "What's his name?"

Libby and I looked at each other, smiled and nodded, and then looked up at the nurse. "Branson," answered Libby. "Branson William Harris," Libby and I had been going back and forth on both boy and girl names and we had decided on the name Branson William if it was a boy.

The nurse smiled and said, "Very cute name," Then she wrote it down on a piece of paper.

After ten minutes, Libby handed Branson to me. He squirmed a little bit, but I soothed him and he fell back asleep. I smiled down at him and then kissed his forehead. "Hey buddy," I whispered. "Even though you're not even an hour old yet, I already love you more than anything else in this world."

"Hey, what am I?" asked Libby jokingly. "Chopped liver?"

"Oh, no way," I said and leaned over to give her a kiss. "I love you more than anything as well. My wife and my son are my whole world now."

**Aww, okay, even if you don't like Libby, you have to admit that that is cute. :)**

**Now review, my lovely readers!**


	11. Tupelo

**Hello everyone! Good morning/afternoon/evening or whenever you're reading this! It's 10:00 pm where I am and instead of posting this, I should be doing some final reading for one of my classes, but you know what? This is more fun :P**

**Okay, enjoy this chapter! I think it's a cute one!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own "Tupelo" by Lauren Alaina.**

Tori's POV

I looked over at Caleb and said, with a smile, "Where are we going?"

He smirked and said, "Wouldn't you like to know,"

"Evil," I said and gently smacked his shoulder.

"Ow," he said as if he was hurt. "Abusive,"

"Aw, I'm sorry," I said and leaned over and kissed his shoulder. "There. All better,"

"Thanks, babe," he said and leaned over and kissed my cheek.

"Hey, keep your eyes on the road!" I exclaimed. "If you wanna kiss me, you should stop on the side of the road."

"Hmm," he said, thinking about that. "Well, if you insist," Off the side of the road, there was a place where you could stop. It wasn't a rest stop, but it was a vacant space on the side of the highway. There were also hundreds of flowers all on the ground. It looked so beautiful.

Caleb pulled up next to it and stopped the car. Then we both got out. I ran around to him and jumped in his arms; he spun me around a couple of times. When he set me down, he pulled me back in for a kiss. It was a really passionate, loving kiss. I adored this man so much. Actually, I could now call him my husband. We had practically eloped a few days before this and now we were on the road. You could say we were on our honeymoon going…I don't know where. Caleb still hadn't told me, but I do know what we'd been driving for a long time now.

Afterwards, Caleb reached down and picked a yellow wildflower out of the ground and then he stood up and said, "Take your clip out and hand it to me."

I giggled. "Okay," I pulled my bobby pin out that was holding my hair out of my face.

I handed him the bobby pin and he smiled and said, "Thank you, ma'am," He put the flower on my hair and clipped it in with the bobby pin. "There," he said, looking at my hair. "Beautiful,"

_Picked a wildflower off the side of the road_

_ You put it in my hair_

Once Caleb and I got back in the car and we were driving again, I took my flip-flops off and put my feet up on the dashboard to get more comfortable. I asked Caleb to put the top down on the car and he did. When it was down, I took my flower out of my hair, laid it in the console, put my sunglasses on, raised my hands in the air, and looked up as the wind blew my hair all around. I didn't want the flower to fly out of my hair.

_Two bare feet up on the dashboard_

_ Hands waving through the summer air_

Caleb looked at me and giggled. "Having fun?"

"Oh yeah," I said and looked at him. "This is perfect."

He quickly looked at me again before looking back at the road. "Absolutely perfect,"

_Looking at you, looking at me_

_ With the wind strapped to our backs_

_ Flying as high as a bird in the sky_

_ Don't get much better than that_

"Would you like to tell me where we're going?" I asked after a few moments and put my sunglasses on my head. "After all, it is my honeymoon, too."

"Fine, I guess I'll have to tell you." he said with a sigh. "Have you ever been to Tupelo?"

"What the heck is that?" I asked.

"I guess not," he said, kind of to himself. Then he said, "It's this great city in Mississippi. I know it doesn't sound like much, but my parents took Jenna and me there when we were younger and we loved it. There are so many fun things to do there."

"Have you guys lived in New York your whole life?"

"No, we lived in Oklahoma until I was thirteen and that's when we moved to New York because of my dad's job." he explained. "Why?"

"Well…Mississippi isn't exactly close to New York or Oklahoma." I pointed out. "Why would you guys go there if it wasn't close to where you lived?"

"We were doing exactly this." he said and grabbed my hand. He took a second to smile at me and then he looked back at the road. "My parents are the kind of people who love to just get in the car and drive for days on end sometimes. I don't know why; Jenna and I have never understood it. Anyway, one time we were doing this as a family, and we came across Tupelo. And I told myself that, one day, I would take my new wife there for our honeymoon."

"Aww," I said and leaned over and kissed his cheek. I turned the radio on to a good station and put my sunglasses back on and then looked up at the sky, letting the sun hit my face. "Then I can't wait to get to Tupelo."

_And we sang all the way down to Tupelo_

_ Love struck right on the money_

_ Heart beats are beating to the radio_

_ Kisses sweet as the honey_

_ Down in Tupelo_

_ All the way to Tupelo_

It was taking us forever to just get to Mississippi. I got so antsy that I would count the while lines mile by mile by mile. After counting about four miles, I realized that I wasn't antsy anymore. It was actually a really soothing feeling. It released me from the stresses of daily life. I loved being on the road with my new husband in the summer.

_Counting the white lines mile by mile_

_ Worries slipping away_

When we were just about to get to Mississippi, Caleb took a back road that he claimed would be a short cut and in the end, I think it really was. We ended up driving past a really gorgeous river. I smiled and then said, "Hey, can we stop?"

"Sure, what for?"

"My legs are getting stiff." I told him. "I need to stretch them out."

"Alright," he said and we pulled off the side of the road and got out. I walked up to the river and bent down. I could faintly see all the little fishes swimming in it, but the thing that was the coolest that I noticed were frogs hopping around.

"Caleb, come here!" I exclaimed and ran over to him. I grabbed his hand and pulled him up to the side of the river. "Look down there!"

"What am I looking at?" he asked.

"Frogs, see!" I exclaimed. "They're so cute!" Just as I said this, one of the frogs hopped out of the water and almost on to me, which caused me to jump away and practically scream bloody murder. "Eww, Caleb!" I screamed when I was ten feet away from the water. "Why would you let that frog do that?" He laughed at me. "What's so funny? That frog was attacking me!"

"You're just too cute." he said as we walked over to me. He grabbed my face and kissed me. "Don't worry, babe. If a frog ever attacks you again, I will save you."

"Thank you," I told him.

After walking around and stretching our legs a little more, we got back in the car and continued our drive down to Tupelo. We would occasionally glance at each other and smile and then look away. After we'd been silent for awhile, Caleb said, "Wow, you look so beautiful."

I looked at him and smiled. "Aww, thanks,"

"I swear, I fall in love with you more and more every minute."

I could feel a little tingle in my stomach as I said, "You're not the only one,"

_Took a back road for a little slowdown_

_ Off of the interstate_

_ We followed the river as far as it goes_

_ Smiling in the July sun_

_ Hearing you say you're falling in love_

_ I said, you ain't the only one_

We finally got to our destination about five hours later. We checked into a nice little hotel and got settled into our room. Caleb said he wanted to take a shower, so he went ahead and did that. While he was doing that, I grabbed a pen and paper from the nightstand and wrote down the words that had been in my head ever since we started driving.

"All the way down to Tupelo," I sang out loud.

…

It was a couple months later, in September, that I was pacing back and forth in the bathroom of mine and Caleb's house. It was early in the morning and I had planned on doing this later in the day, but when the time came, I had to do it. I couldn't help myself.

After waiting for the appropriate amount of time, I walked up to the counter, nervous as heck, and looked down and picked up the little test in my hands. I smiled ear-to-ear to see the little plus sign on the pregnancy test.

"Tori!" I heard Caleb call out. I guess he had just woken up. "Hey Tori! Where are you?"

"I'll be right out!" I called out and walked out of the bathroom with the pregnancy test in my hand. I headed to the kitchen to find Caleb getting a cup of coffee. I sighed, put the test behind my back, and said, "Hey,"

He looked at me and smiled. "Good morning, beautiful." He walked over to me and gave me a light kiss. "What were you doing?"

"Just…taking care of some stuff," I said and smiled. "So…Caleb?"

"So…Tori?"

I giggled. Caleb was the kind of guy that if you said something that had an open-ended response, he would repeat it at you. It always made me laugh. "Guess what?"

"What?"

I pulled the test from behind my back and showed it to Caleb. "I'm pregnant."

He looked at the test closely and then his eyes widened. Then he grabbed it. "You mean…you're pregnant?"

"Yeah," I said with a smile. "We're gonna have a baby."

"So…" He put the test down behind me and then got on his knees. He put his hands on my stomach and while looking at my stomach, he said, "You mean…there's a baby right in here?"

I laughed. "A really little baby, but yeah. There is a real live baby in there." He was acting like he'd never seen someone pregnant. He was probably just in shock, which was understandable.

"Wow," he said and then stood up. "That's a true miracle."

"It really is," I said and we hugged tightly. "It's kind of like magic."


	12. Daily Life

**Hey guys! So I apologize ahead of time since this chapter is so short! But because of that, I'll update again probably within the next few days! But until then…enjoy this cute little chapter! :)**

Andre's POV

I came home from the studio pretty late one night. I would have stayed longer, but I remembered that I had a five-month-old baby and a wife to get home to. Branson was a pretty good baby, but he was still a baby and he cried.

I walked in the door and heard silence. I didn't wanna call out anything just in case Branson was sleeping, so I walked quietly through the house. I saw light on in the living room, so I went in there. I saw Libby sitting on the floor, watching TV; Branson was laid out on the floor while playing with some of his toys. As I got closer, I saw that he had his pacifier in his mouth. He loved that thing.

I smiled and said, "Hey guys!"

Libby looked my way, gasped, and said, "Look Branson! Daddy's home!" She picked him up and walked over to me. Branson smiled upon seeing me, which meant that his pacifier fell out of his mouth. He was such a pretty little baby. His skin tone was a light brown, somewhere in between mine and Libby's. He had Libby's smile, but my brown eyes.

"Come here, buddy," I said and took him in my arms. I kissed him on his forehead. "What are you doing?"

He responded with a loud squeal.

I giggled and then looked at Libby. "Hey you," I gave her a kiss. "How was your day?"

"It was okay." she answered. "I got off work, went and picked up Branson, and then came home." She grabbed Branson's hand and he grabbed her finger. "We've been hanging out here ever since."

"Has Branson been good?"

"Pretty good," she told me. "He was a little fussy when I picked him up, but he just had some colic. I gave him some medicine and he got better."

"That's good." I said.

"Yeah," Libby sighed. "Well…would you like some something to eat?"

"Sure," I said. "When was the last time Branson ate?"

Libby had to think about it for a moment, but then she said, "You know…it's been awhile. He could probably use something."

I giggled. "Well, there you go," I handed Branson back to Libby and then I went to the kitchen and warmed up leftovers from yesterday. While I was doing that, Libby was fixing up a bottle for Branson.

Five minutes later, we were all sitting at the table, together as a family. I looked at my wife and my son and just thought to myself that I had to be the luckiest man in the world. I didn't know how life could get much better.


	13. Shayla

**Like I promised, guys, I'm posting this sooner than I would have! And it's a little bit longer! Enjoy! :)**

Tori's POV

I had never been so miserable in all my life. No matter what position I got in, I could not get comfortable. I used to sleep on my stomach, but that was a big no-no since I was pregnant. In fact, I was a full-term, nine months pregnant. Caleb and I had talked about names and we had one picked out if it was a boy and one picked out if it was a girl.

I couldn't wait to have this baby and go on a diet to get rid of all this weight that I had gained. Just as I thought that, I knocked the thought out of my head. If I really did that, I would back to the habits that I had my junior year and that would be awful. I would never wanna go back to my eating disorder. Instead of a diet, I told myself that I could just eat healthy and probably exercise a little bit. Wait a minute…if I started to exercise, I would just exercise more and more and before long, I would be too thin. Maybe I could just eat less. Wait…if I did that, I would soon get to where I didn't wanna hardly eat at all. Well, maybe I could–

My thoughts were interrupted by an odd feeling in my abdomen. I waited for a moment, seeing if the feeling was gonna get worse or not, but just a few minutes later, it went away. It was such a weird feeling. It was like I had some tightening and hardening in my abdomen.

For the next thirty minutes, I had that feeling off and on. It was getting slightly stronger, but it wasn't hurting just yet. All I thought was, if this is labor, I can handle it. It wasn't even that bad.

After another thirty minutes, I figured it was time to wake up Caleb and head to the hospital. I wasn't sure if this was real labor or not, but I didn't wanna take a chance.

I reached over and shook Caleb awake. "Hey, Caleb? Wake up,"

It took me another moment, but I finally woke him up. He turned over and looked at me. "What, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

All I did was smile and say, "I think it's time."

"Time for what?" he asked and set up.

I smacked his arm. His sense of humor was funny most of the time, but when I was talking about going to the hospital to have our baby, it wasn't that funny. "Caleb, come on. This is serious."

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry." he said and got out of bed. "I was just kidding, but I'm still sorry." He ran to my side and helped me out of bed. "Here's what I'll do: I'll help you out to the car and then I'll run back inside and get your bag. We need to get to the hospital at quick as possible."

I was gonna say that it would be easier to just go ahead and grab my bag since it would save time, but I could tell that Caleb was turning into a nervous wreck and I didn't wanna make it worse, so I just kept quiet. It would only take an extra minute or two anyway.

Once I was in the car and Caleb had gotten my bag, we were off to the hospital. After driving for a minute, I had the tightening and hardening feeling again. I let out a small moan and Caleb said, "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said in a strained voice. "Just having a contraction I think."

"Does it hurt real badly?" He grabbed my hand and squeezed it.

"Not really," I answered. "If this is as bad as labor gets, then I think I can handle it. I don't know why some ladies scream bloody murder while in labor. This isn't even that bad."

He gently kissed my hand and said, "Well, I hope you're right."

Oh, I wasn't right at all. Just an hour later, the contractions got so much stronger and along with the tightening and hardening, I was feeling what felt like extremely strong cramps. I was trying to breathe deeply, but it hurt so badly that I found myself moaning and groaning the majority of the time. Caleb was there for me and I was so thankful for him. I wanted my mom to be there, but we were in New York and she was in LA. When we had first arrived at the hospital, Caleb called my family and told them that I was in labor and they immediately made arrangements to fly out to New York the next day.

Once I got to four centimeters dilated, I received an epidural and I prayed that it would take and it did. After that, I hardly felt the contractions at all. In fact, I was even able to get some sleep which was great since it was in the middle of the night. I hoped that before long, I would have my baby with me. I couldn't wait to have him or her.

It wasn't until morning at about 7:30 that I could finally start pushing. I wasn't worried about it hurting since I had my epidural and at exactly 8:01 on May seventeenth, my baby girl was born. As soon as I heard her cries, I started crying myself. I couldn't believe that she was finally here.

After she was measured and weighed (18 and a half inches long and 7 pounds and 4 ounces), she was brought over to me and her head was laid right on my heart. I just stared down at her beautiful little face. This was absolute perfection. My baby girl was flawless.

"And her name will be…?" asked Caleb as he gently rubbed his hand over her head.

I smiled and looked up at him. "Shayla," I looked back down at her. "Shayla Grace Thomas."

"Perfect," he said and leaned down and kissed the top of my head. "I seriously am the luckiest guy in the world." I looked up at him. "I have two amazing girls in my life that I wouldn't trade for the world."

I smiled. "I love you so much, Caleb."

"I love you, too." I said and we kissed. It was official…I loved my family.

…..

Shayla was a really good baby, but sometimes, she had colic really badly that all she would do was cry for hours on end. I could usually handle it, but once, when Shayla was only one month old, I lost it.

I was getting very frustrated because Shayla had been crying for four hours straight. Then I just started crying. I now understood why parents got like this. I knew that if I heard Shayla crying any longer, I would go ballistic and to stop myself from harming her or myself, I got up and ran from her nursery to the bedroom. Shayla's cries woke up Caleb as soon as I walked in the room. He set up and turned to me. "Do you need help?" he asked.

"Please, just take her." I said, sobbing. "I need sleep."

He sighed and got out of bed and gently took Shayla from me. "I will take care of her, okay?" he said soothingly. "You lie down and get some sleep." Caleb worked during the day and I felt bad for interrupting his sleep, but he offered and I agreed.

I breathed a few sighs of relief. "Thanks," I laid down in bed at the same time Caleb walked out of the bedroom with Shayla. I was out like a light in seconds.

I was out for the next ten hours. When I finally woke up at three in the afternoon, I felt more refreshed than I had in weeks. I got out of bed and headed in the living room and saw Caleb sitting on the couch cradling Shayla. She was fast asleep and Caleb looked pretty sleepy himself. It was a great sight to see. "Hey, you look like you need some sleep."

He looked at me and smiled. "Yeah, that would be nice." He slowly stood up and handed Shayla to me. She looked so precious and peaceful. "She fell asleep fifteen minutes ago after being awake for five hours."

"So I guess you got her to sleep early this morning?" I whispered.

"Yeah, at six, but she woke up at ten." He yawned. "I'm gonna take a shower and get some sleep."

I nodded, but then said, "Wait…what about work? You missed it."

"It's okay, Tor," he said sleepily and wiped his eyes. "I called in sick and got the day off. We get some days off during the year, so I used one of my sick days for today." Caleb worked at a bank.

"Aww, thanks, Caleb," I said. "That's so sweet."

He smiled and then said, "No prob. But…I'm gonna go to sleep now. I'm exhausted."

"Alright," We quickly kissed and he left the room.

I went in the kitchen and got some food while Shayla slept. While eating a bowl of cereal, I just looked down at Shayla. All babies are peaceful while they sleep, but Shayla was extra peaceful. Of course, I was a little biased.

I lightly kissed her tiny nose and finished eating my cereal.

I was so thankful for Caleb. I don't know what I'd do without him.


	14. Personal Hell

**Okay guys…warning, intense chapter. A lot happens.**

Tori's POV

It was in the late evening on a Friday night when it happened. Shayla was just five months old, so she was still little. I had just gotten her to sleep after trying to for the past hour. She was really cranky, but I finally soothed her enough to get her to go to sleep. I tried to be really quiet in the house because I was scared that she would wake up from just the littlest noise.

Just as I was getting a glass of water from the kitchen, I heard the garage door open which meant that Caleb was home. I ran straight to the door that led out to the garage to wait for Caleb and tell him to be quiet so he wouldn't wake up Shayla.

As I was standing in the doorway, I watched Caleb drive in and something about him seemed really different. His face looked really angry and he just didn't seem like himself. I was actually a little nervous. I was also curious as to why he was home so late.

As soon as he turned his car off, he jumped out of his car and ran towards me. I smiled and said, "Hi Caleb. What's wrong?"

"Shut up!" he screamed and pushed past me, bumping my shoulder.

With my heart pounding out of my chest, I closed the door and followed after him. He walked into the kitchen and he seemed really out of it. He wasn't walking straight and he looked kind of delirious.

I walked up to him and gently touched his shoulder. "Caleb? Are you okay?"

He pushed my hand away. "Get out of my face!" he said, getting right in my own face.

I backed up against the counter and put my hands on it. Caleb was still right in my face. "Caleb, what has–" He reached out his hand and backhanded me in the face.

He hit me so hard that I knew a bruise would form. I immediately started crying and slid down to the ground. I covered my hand over my cheek and looked up at Caleb. He was glaring down at me, hands in fists. The look in his eyes at that moment is something I'll never forget. They were blazing angry. This was not the same man that I married a year and three months ago. "You're drunk." I mumbled in between sobs.

"Well, look at you, Miss Smarty Pants!" He kicked me hard in the side and then walked out of the kitchen and headed to our bedroom. I faintly heard Shayla crying from her room, but I couldn't get up just yet. I hurt way too much, physically and emotionally, and I was also in major shock.

Did my husband really just hit and kick me?

I eventually got up and headed to Shayla's bedroom, but it was hard to walk since my side hurt. Caleb had kicked me super hard in the side to the point where breathing hurt. Poor baby; she had no idea what had just happened. I simply picked her up and sat down in the rocking chair with her in my arms. I held her close to me and rocked her back to sleep. Once she was asleep, I pulled her away from my chest and I looked at her precious little face. My eyes filled up with tears as I said, "I promise I'll protect you, baby."

I eventually walked out of her room and back in the bedroom. Caleb was asleep in bed. I sighed heavily and went ahead and got in bed myself. I glanced at Caleb and he looked really peaceful. I reached behind me and felt at the spot where he'd kicked me. It was really sore and tender.

It took me a really long time to fall asleep that night.

The next morning, I woke up late. I knew something had happened the night before, but I couldn't remember what it was. I turned over and suddenly remembered. A sharp pain shot through my side. The look in Caleb's eyes jumped back into my mind and it made me cower deeper in the covers. Caleb must have already woken up because it was just me in the bed. I wanted to lie in that bed forever.

Suddenly, I heard Shayla crying from her room. I sighed and pushed the covers off of me. I set up in bed, but that hurt so badly. It took me a minute to finally get out of bed. Once I was up, I looked at myself in the mirror and I was shocked to see how big the bruise was on my face. Then I turned to the left, held my shirt up, and saw the huge bruise on my side. I still couldn't believe that my own husband put those two bruises on my body. I thought he loved me more than that.

I walked out of the room a minute later and went to Shayla's bedroom. She was lying in her crib, crying her eyes out with her mouth wide open. I walked over to her and picked her up. I tried to ignore the pain in my side, but it was difficult. I just tried to focus on feeding my baby, which was why I was heading to the kitchen to get a bottle ready.

When I walked in, I saw Caleb getting a cup of coffee. He immediately turned around upon hearing Shayla's cries. He smiled warmly and said, "Good morning, sweetheart." He walked up to me and kissed my forehead. I got chills as his lips made contact with my skin.

I gave him a tiny smile and said, "Morning," I walked around him and got a bottle fixed up for Shayla. Once it was fixed, I turned around and headed to the living room. I sat on the couch and fed Shayla the bottle. She looked at me with her big brown eyes. I couldn't help but lean down and kiss her forehead.

Just then, Caleb came in and he sat next to me on the couch; I continued to look down at Shayla. He rubbed his hand on my back and said in a gentle voice, "You hate me now, don't you?"

I bit my lip and tried to say as strong as possible, "I don't wanna talk about it, Caleb."

"Tori, I'm sorry," he said. His voice sounded really sincere. He shook his head. "I don't know what got into me last night."

I glanced at him and then looked away. "You were drunk."

"I know," he said immediately. "I…I didn't intend to. I had a hard day at work and…I went to the bar to get a drink, but then that drink turned into two and that turned into three and then four, five, six…before long, I just lost count."

I looked at him in disbelief. "Why would you go to a bar? I was here all day yesterday. You could have come home instead of there. I would have listened to you if you wanted to talk about something. That's why we committed ourselves to each other." I looked down at Shayla. "That's why we have a baby together! You're supposed to be here for us."

"I know, honey, I know." he said and rubbed his hands through his hair. "I'm so sorry. I feel awful about what I did last night." Then he looked at me in the face. He gently ran his fingers over the cheek that wasn't bruised. I shivered under his touch. "Listen to me, Tori…I lost it last night and…I totally regret what I did. If I could take it back, I would. If I could take back giving you this bruise, I would." He leaned in and very gently kissed the cheek that was bruised. I blinked a few times and tears rolled out of my eyes. When he pulled away, he wiped away the tears. "I understand if you're angry right now. I would be too. It's just…I hope you can understand that I am honestly and truly sorry. I love you and Shayla so much and I would never want to throw that away. You are the best thing that's ever happened to me." He gently kissed me. "I'm sorry."

I wanted to stay mad, I really did. I wanted to get up right then and run away, taking Shayla with me. There are so many things I could have done in that moment, but instead of doing any of those things that I should have done, I let myself forgive Caleb. I smiled and said, "Okay. I'll forgive you."

But that was a mistake. I didn't know it at the time, but I was now in my own personal hell.

…

Andre's POV

When Branson was about one and a half, things took a turn for the worse between Libby and me. The littlest things made her livid and we would get into a screaming argument. I came in late from work; she assumed I was cheating when, of course, I wasn't. I really was working late. I was still working on my album and I had been spending so much time at the studio. I spent half the time at the studio and the other half as a waiter at a restaurant. I knew that once my album was released that a whole lot of money would come in, but as of now, I only brought in some money from my job at the restaurant. Libby brought in a good chunk of change from her job, so we were well off.

I didn't take out the trash when I was supposed to; she claimed that I didn't care about the work that needed to be done around the house. Branson cried all night and she would blame it on me. Apparently nothing I did was good enough. I did everything in my power to try and keep her happy, but it was no use.

I missed the days when Libby and I first got together. She was always so happy and so bubbly and just so sweet. We used to never get into fights. Now, though, it seemed like we fought every single day. I swear, one day everything was perfect and the next, it turned upside down. It was like something clicked in Libby's brain overnight, because she suddenly criticized everything I did.

It got to where I hated to come home after work, because I knew that once I walked through the door after work, I would get screamed at for something insignificant. My only reason for coming home some days was to see Branson. He had become my reason for living. I loved my son more than anything.

No one knew about what went on at the house, except for Beck and I didn't even tell him. He found out one day when he called and Libby was yelling at me in the background. I told Beck I would call him later and he said okay. Libby and I ending up fighting for the next thirty minutes.

I called Beck back five minutes after mine and Libby's fight. "Sorry about that," I said when he picked up. I plopped on the couch. "Libby's gone," She had Branson and they were going to the park.

"What's going on there, Andre?" he asked seriously.

"Just…you know…life," I said. "Trying to do everything I can to keep my wife happy, but…it's not quite working out."

"You guys are fighting?"

"Yep," I said quickly. "It's awful, Beck. I would give anything to just take Branson and get out of here."

He hesitated before saying, "Is Libby hurting Branson?"

"No," I said instantly. "No, of course not. But…I know that Branson knows that me and his mother aren't getting along. I think he's witnessed us fighting before." The only reason I know that is once when we were fighting, I momentarily looked to my right and I could have sworn I saw the back of Branson's head. I talked to him about him, but he denied witnessing anything. But I know he did. Of course he wasn't even two yet, but still.

"It shouldn't be like that, Andre." he told me. "You need to divorce Libby."

I let out small giggle. "Oh, I'd love to…I really would, but…I don't know. I feel like I'm trapped in this awful relationship. I don't know what to do about it." I buried my face in my hand and wiped the tears out of my eyes. "I never imagined my life would be like this."

"So do something about it." he told me. "It's your life. You deserve to be happy."

Beck's words really got me thinking. The words "So do something about it" rang through my head for so long. I wanted so badly to get out of this awful relationship.

You could say that I was now in my own personal hell.


	15. Never Grow Up

**Next chapter guys, here it is! Sorry it took so long to post! I've just been so busy!**

**But anyways, enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own "Never Grow Up" by Taylor Swift**

Tori's POV

Even though Caleb swore up and down that the first time he hit me would be his last, it most definitely wasn't. The next time he hit me was actually just a few days later. He came in late one night and I tried to avoid him, but it was no use. He found me and started to beat the crap out of me. I was covered in bruises the next day. While apologizing, he started crying. I actually believed him when he said he was sorry.

But he wasn't. He never was.

I wanted to get out of this relationship, but it was so hard. No matter how mad I got or how upset I was, Caleb would turn around and be the best husband he could be. He would gently kiss where he hit me and metaphorically make me better. I would pray long and hard every night that he would change and go back to the sweet husband he was before, but it was no use. He was so hooked on that alcohol that there was nothing I could do about it. Even though he constantly caused me physical and emotional pain, I still loved him. That's what made leaving so hard.

One day, when Shayla was eighteen months old and sound asleep, Caleb came in from work. It was 5:15, so he was home on time. When he walked in, I immediately said, "Well, this is a nice surprise."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"You're not drunk." I told him. "Every night for the past two weeks, when you've come home from work, you've been drunk."

He nodded. "Yeah…I don't drink all the time, Tori."

"Hmm," I said and crossed my arms. "But it sure feels like it."

He took a step closer to me. "What are you saying?"

"Caleb, do you know what it's like for me?" I asked. "What it's like to have a husband who is an alcoholic? To have a husband who comes home drunk half the time and beats the–" He reached out his hand and punched me in the nose.

I instantly scooted back and covered my hands over my nose. I could tell that it was bleeding. My eyes filled up with tears as I looked at Caleb. This was the first time he'd punched me while sober.

As always, he suddenly became very apologetic. "Oh, my God, Tori, I'm so sorry!" He ran to grab some paper towels and brought them over to me. "I swear, I didn't mean to do that!"

I yanked the paper towel out of his hand and pressed it against my nose. "So you just accidentally reached out and punched me in the face? How does that work?"

"Tori…I'm sorry." he said, pleading with me. "You know I am. You know that I would never punch you intentionally."

I had no comment to that. I just stopped my nosebleed in silence.

It was after that day he would hit me whenever he felt like it. He still apologized, but it was never as sincere as it was after the first time he hit me. He might just mumble a sorry the next morning and go about his day. Sometimes, though, he didn't apologize at all.

I would love to say that something exciting happened over the next few years, but it didn't. I would also love to say that Caleb changed his ways, but he didn't. If anything, it got worse. A day couldn't go by without him punching me, kicking me, or screaming in my face, telling me that I was stupid and worthless. There were always bruises on my body, but not many were on my face. Caleb got smart and he didn't want anyone to be suspicious, so he stopped hitting me in the face. He would just make up for it and punch me extra hard everywhere else on my body.

Something that he really loved to do was to grab some of my hair and slam my head against the wall. He would do it over and over again occasionally and it left me with a bad headache. One time it was so bad that I had to go to the hospital and I had a mild concussion. When questioned about it by the nurses, I said that I had fallen.

I couldn't believe that this was actually my life. I would have given anything to change it.

There was one time in particular that made an impact on me. Caleb came home for work one day at one in the afternoon. I asked why he was home so early and he said that he'd been fired. I asked him why and he said that the people there were stupid and that they hated him. I found out later that the real reason was that he'd been coming into work drunk. His boss gave him a few warnings before he decided enough was enough and he got fired.

"I hate those people!" he screamed. "And they hate me! Now I have no job! This is just great!"

"Caleb, would you just relax?" I asked in a hushed voice. "Shayla just laid down for a nap. Could you not be so loud?"

"Oh, my God, really?" exclaimed Caleb. "Really? All you do is say Shayla this and Shayla that…well guess what, Tori? Who gives a flip about stupid Shayla?"

My eyes widened. "Oh, my God, Caleb…Shayla is your daughter. She's your two-year-old daughter. How could you say that about her?"

"Because all you care about is her!" he screamed. "I do one bad thing wrong and you jump down my throat! Shayla does bad things all the time and what do you do? You let it go! That child has no idea how the world will be if you don't lay down some ground rules!"

"That child?" I asked. "That's all your daughter is to you? Just some child? And what are you talking about? I never punish you for doing bad things! And just so you know, I do lay ground rules for Shayla. She does something she's not supposed to and I let her know. I am being the best mom I know how to be and you're being the worst father you could ever be. What's wrong with–"

He interrupted me by punching me in the face. I tried to tell him to stop, but it was no use. He stopped punching me in the face and began to punch me everywhere else. I bent down on the ground, but it didn't stop him in anyway. During these moments when he's hitting me are the worst. I just try and wait it out, because even though it feels like it will never end, it eventually does. The shortest amount of time he's hit me is just seconds, but the longest is five minutes. I kid you not, once he went a full five minutes in just hitting me. He hit me, punched me, kicked me, and screamed in my face. Even though it only lasted for five minutes, it felt like it lasted an eternity. Every time he hits me, his punches come at me in slow motion. Then the pain radiates everywhere. After every punch, I think that it might end, but usually he just hits me somewhere else. After that last punch, when he's done, and he walks off angry, those are the best moments. It's really sad to say, but I lived for those moments.

That day, though, he only hit me for about a minute. When he was done, he sighed heavily and just trudged out of the room. I let out a long sigh and fell over on the floor. I rubbed my hands over my face and then something off to my right caught my eye. I looked over and gasped at what I saw; I immediately rose up from the ground.

"Shayla?"

Shayla was looking at me with terrified eyes. She just stood there, shaking really badly. She blinked a few times, but then she started crying. To know that my little girl had seen me get hit by her own daddy broke my heart.

I immediately got off the ground and jogged over to her. I scooped her in my arms and held her close to me. "Oh, it's okay, baby girl," I said and kissed the top of her head. "It's alright, Shayla, I got you."

"Mommy?" she mumbled. "Why Daddy so mean to you?"

My heart was already broken in two, but when she said that, it broke into two more pieces. "Oh, baby…I don't know. He…he was just angry, but…it'll be okay, honey. Mommy's okay."

She pulled away and looked me straight in the eye. Voice strong as ever, she asked, "Will Daddy ever hit me?"

There goes two more pieces of my heart. "No, baby. I won't let him."

I wanted my words to be sincere, I really did, but I honestly wasn't one hundred percent sure. Caleb was turning more and more violent each day. He hadn't ever laid a hand on Shayla before and I hoped it stayed that way.

When I brought Shayla back to bed about thirty minutes later, she fell asleep fairly quickly, from how tired she was. She has a nightlight in her room and it gives out enough light so you can see where you're walking and what you're doing. I noticed a piece of paper on her bedside table with a pen next to it. I sighed shakily and grabbed the paper and pen. I looked it over, to make sure Shayla hadn't drawn anything on it and she hadn't. I'm not sure why it was sitting there, but there it was, clear as day. It gave me something to write a few words to a song down, so I was actually kind of glad it was there.

_Your little hand's wrapped around my finger_

_And it's so quiet in the world tonight_

_Your little eyelids flutter cause you're dreaming, so I tuck you in_

_Turn on your favorite nightlight_

_To you, everything's funny_

_You got nothing to regret_

_I'd give all I have, honey_

_If you could stay like that_

_Oh, darling, don't you ever grow up_

_Don't you ever grow up_

_Just stay this little_

_Oh, darling, don't you ever grow up_

_Don't you ever grow up_

_It could stay this simple_

_I won't let nobody hurt you_

_Won't let no one break your heart_

_And no one will desert you_

_Just try to never grow up_

_Never grow up_

_You're in the car on the way to the movies_

_And you're mortified your mom's dropping you off_

_At fourteen, there's just so much you can't do_

_And you can't wait to move out_

_Someday and call your own shots_

_But don't make her drop you off around the block_

_Remember that she's getting older too_

_And don't lose the way that you'd dance_

_Around in your PJ's getting ready for school_

_Oh, darling, don't you ever grow up_

_Don't you ever grow up_

_Just stay this little_

_Oh, darling, don't you ever grow up_

_Don't you ever grow up_

_It could stay this simple_

_And no one's ever burned you_

_Nothing's ever left you scarred_

_And even though you want to_

_Just try to never grow up_

I tried so hard to write some more words down, but I couldn't think of anything. After every other line that I wrote, I would look up at Shayla and see her peaceful sleeping form. I would watch her chest and see it rise up and down. I'd look at her face and see her eyelids fluttering. I smiled, hoping she was having a good dream. She was at such a precious little age. I would have given anything for her to stay like this and never grow up.


	16. Secrets Revealed

**Hey guys! Sorry it's been awhile since my last update, I've just been so busy! I'm so ready for a nice long break! But since I had nothing else to do on this Saturday night since they decided to not air the new Victorious (boo!) I thought I would update for you guys!**

** Please review since I haven't gotten a whole lot of reviews! I love hearing what you guys think of this story! :)**

Tori's POV

No one knew about what Caleb did to me, not even my family or his family. Out in public, we looked like the perfect little family. But no one knew the truth. There were times when all three of us went out for a walk or to go eat and we'd get comments like, "Aww, your little girl is so cute!" or "You have such a cute family!"

I would just smile while Caleb said, "Thanks," There wasn't much to say.

There was this one time, however, that someone found out about it on their own. I had to tell this person that it was no big deal and to please just forget about it.

It was Christmas time and Caleb, Shayla, and I were spending it with Caleb's family. We were at his parents' house and Jenna and her husband Richard were there as well with their three kids Josh (who was seven), Lauren (who was five), and Matt. Shayla is only a few months older than Matt, so they were both three. Richard was in the military, but he was home for the holidays and would be for another two weeks. It was so nice for all of us to see him again.

It was after the Christmas dinner and after all the kids had opened their presents and all of us adults were talking in the kitchen. I talked a little, but I was mainly just quiet. I know we were around Caleb's family, but I hated how sweet he acted, even towards me. It's like he was putting on a show. Even Shayla gave him weird looks during the event. I made her promise to not tell anyone that she knew what her dad did and she told me she wouldn't tell anyone.

At one point, Jenna said, "Hey, Tori, can we go outside for a minute?"

Everyone looked at her odd. "Uh…I guess," I said standing up. "Why?"

"I just wanna talk to you about something." She stood up and so did I. We walked out the backdoor and Jenna made sure that the door was shut extra tightly. When she knew it was, she turned to me and said, "Okay…what is up?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Tori…you think everyone in there can't see it?" she asked. "We can tell by the way you look at Caleb. You look at him like you hate him or something."

"How could you say that?" I asked. "I don't hate him! I'm married to him and we have a daughter for crying out loud!"

"Yeah, sure, whatever," she said. "But I know what I see. The way Caleb looks at you is like you're the most amazing thing in the world." Without knowing, I rolled my eyes. I knew it was just an act he put on. "And why did you just roll your eyes?"

"I didn't," I said immediately.

"Yeah, you did," she said. "Why?"

I sighed heavily. "Jenna, will you just get to the point?"

"Anyway, as I was saying…Caleb looks at you like you're the most amazing thing in the world and you look at him like he's a big phony. Now I'm no rocket scientist, but I'm pretty sure that a wife is supposed to look at her husband with a little more affection than that."

I gulped. Was I really looking at Caleb like that? I thought I was hiding it better than that. "Jenna, it's…it's nothing, okay? We…we got into a fight before coming over here, so I'm a little mad at him." I wasn't completely lying about that. A couple hours before we left, Caleb blew up at me and he grabbed me by my wrists and threw me against the wall. I had handprint bruises around my wrists and a big bruise forming on my shoulder from where I hit the wall. I was currently wearing a long-sleeved shirt and I would occasionally pull the sleeve down, so no one saw anything.

"What was the fight about?"

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Um, Jenna, no offense, but that's between me and Caleb."

"Whatever," she said. "But if both of you guys got in a fight then how come he's not treating you like that?"

I shrugged. "I don't know."

She sighed and shook her head. "Tori…I don't know if it's just me, but there is definitely something bad going on between you and Caleb. You wanna know how I know?"

"How?"

"Remember when we were doing rehearsals for 'The Wizard of Oz?'" I nodded. "It was after rehearsals one night and we were at that restaurant and you told me about your boyfriend that you currently had at the time. You seemed so happy about it and you were just going on and on about what an amazing boyfriend he was and how he treated you like a princess. I have never heard you gloat about Caleb in that way. Why is that?"

I gulped. I couldn't think of what to say to that. "I don't know." I mumbled. I cleared my throat. "Look, Jenna…can we just go back inside?"

"No," she said in a stubborn voice. "Not until you tell me what's going on between you and my brother."

I shook my head. "Jenna, it's not really any of your business." I walked around her, but she grabbed my hand and pulled me back. I turned and looked at her. Unfortunately, when she grabbed my hand, my sleeve rolled up and she caught a glimpse of my wrist.

She was staring at it in a horrified expression. She rolled the sleeve up more and turned it around. "That's a handprint bruise, Tori." she whispered shakily. Then she grabbed my other wrist, rolled up the sleeve, and saw the same kind of bruise on that wrist. "Oh, my God," She looked up at me. "Say something, Tori…please, say anything."

"There's nothing to say." I said quietly and gently pulled out of her grip and rolled my sleeves back down. "Forget about it."

"But Tori–"

"But nothing," I said. "This is my problem and I will deal with it, okay?"

"Tori…if he's hurting you–"

"No!" I said immediately. "Please…you saw nothing, alright? Please, Jenna…you can't say a thing when we go back inside. Act like you don't know a thing."

She looked at me with an expression of sympathy. "I…I don't think I can do that, Tori."

"You have to," I told her. "Please, do it for me."

"I don't know."

I groaned. "Jenna, please. Don't. I beg of you, just don't."

She sighed shakily. "Can you just answer something for me?"

"What?"

"Has he ever hurt Shayla?"

"No," I said. "I promise you, he hasn't."

She nodded. "Okay. Then I won't say anything to anyone as long as he isn't hurting my niece."

I softly smiled and said, "Thank you," Then I turned around and walked back inside. I looked at Caleb and softly smiled. He smiled back at me. I went and sat down next to him.

Jenna came back inside a moment later. She still didn't look too happy. "Everything okay, Jenna?" asked her mom.

She was about to say no, but I gave her a glare. Then Jenna cleared her throat, smiled, and nodded. "Yeah. Everything's fine," She went and sat next to Richard and we all got back to small talk conversations.

Caleb, Shayla, and I went home about an hour later. As soon as Shayla had gone off to her room to play with one of her new toys, Caleb grabbed me by the shoulders and pushed me against the wall. "Okay, tell me everything you said to my sister."

"I didn't say anything." I told him.

"Liar!" he yelled and slapped me across the face. "You better tell me right here, right now every word you said to her!"

I gulped and said, "She thought that something was up, but I told her there wasn't." There was no way in heck I could tell him that she saw the bruises on my wrists. He would go ballistic if he knew that.

"You promise?" he asked, slightly releasing the grip on my shoulders.

"Yes," I said in a small voice.

He sighed and released me completely. "Good," He turned around and headed off to our bedroom.

I let out a long sigh and sat down at our breakfast table. I rubbed my hands over my forehead and mumbled out loud to myself, "My life is a mess."


	17. The Final Straw for Andre

**Soooo…are you guys ready to hate Libby more than you ever did before?**

**That's all I'm saying…**

Andre's POV

When Branson was just four, Libby and I got a divorce. We sat Branson down one day and explained it to him, but there's only so much a four-year-old will understand. He seemed to think it was his fault and he cried for the rest of the day after we told him. We tried to comfort him and let him know that it had nothing to do with him and that we just weren't getting along. He finally became okay with it, but he still didn't like to split up his time between Libby and me.

I ended up moving out of the apartment and into a really nice house. It wasn't huge, but it wasn't small either. It was a two-story house and it had a nice homey feel to it. It was a four bedroom house, one master bedroom downstairs and three smaller bedrooms upstairs. I don't know why Libby and I didn't live here when we were together; it would have been perfect.

I felt kind of lonely in the big house by myself, but I didn't spend all my time there. I was at work the majority of the time and that occupied my time pretty well. Then every other weekend and every Wednesday, Branson stayed with me; he was with me Friday afternoon through Sunday evening and then I would go pick him up from pre-school on Wednesday until Libby picked him up at my house at night. He was usually asleep by that point. I always hated to see him go.

It was very weird, because he was always so happy when he was with me, but then when Libby would come pick him up, he seemed really let down. Then as Libby would walk him out to her car, he would look back at the house as if he didn't wanna leave. One time, he didn't wanna leave so badly that he started screaming and crying. It broke my heart to see Libby carry him away like that. That's what got me thinking: what really went on between Libby and Branson when I wasn't around?

I found out a day in June when Branson was five.

During the weekends that I kept Branson, Libby dropped him off at my house on Friday afternoons at 3:00, but on this particular Friday, she was late dropping him off. When it got to 3:10, I picked up my phone and called her. She didn't pick up, so I left a voicemail. "Hey, Libby, it's me. Just wondering what's taking so long. Let me know if I need to come get Branson. See ya."

I waited another five minutes, hoping she would call me back, but she didn't. So I called her again and still no answer. I was starting to get worried. She was always on time dropping him off. "Libby? It's now 3:15 and I'm curious as to why you haven't dropped off my son yet. Please call me."

I waited another fifteen minutes, but with no phone call. I finally got fed up with it and just jumped in my car. On the way there, I called Libby. I knew she wouldn't pick up, which she didn't, but I needed to leave a voicemail. "Okay, Libby, that's it…I'm coming to get Branson whether you like it or not."

It took me about ten minutes to get to her apartment. I parked my car in a parking space outside and then got out and ran inside. I got on the elevator and went up to her floor.

Once I got to her floor, I ran off the elevator and jogged to her door. As soon as her door was in front of me, I started banging on it. "Libby, open up!" I yelled. I probably sounded like some psycho killer coming after my ex-wife, but I wasn't. I was just a hopeless man who wanted his son for the weekend.

It took a minute, but Libby finally opened the door. The sight of Libby was not pretty. She was in what looked like her pajamas, and her hair was in a messy ponytail, and her eyes had a really cloudy look to them. She was also looking at me like she didn't know who I was. "Hello?" she said; well, more like slurred.

"Hello?" I said and waved my hand in front of her eyes. "It's me, Andre…you know, Andre? Your ex-husband, father of your son?"

"Ooooh, Andre!" she said and giggled like a little girl. "Oh, Andre, I'm sorry I didn't recognize you."

I looked at her weird and said, "Uh huh…where's Branson?"

Then suddenly, her expression changed. She cleared her throat and said, "Oh…I'm sorry…he's busy. Come back later."

She tried to close the door, but before she could, I put my foot in the doorway. "A five-year-old busy? Yeah, right. And it's my weekend with him. Come on, Libby, take me to him."

"No, go away." she said with a wave of her hand.

"Libby, what is…" Just then, it occurred to me. She had a glazed look in her eyes…she looked messy…she didn't recognize me when I showed up…Libby was drunk and my son was in that apartment with her. No wonder he never wanted to go home with her. God only knows that she did to him.

I immediately turned livid. "Move," I pushed the door open and walked in the apartment. I gasped at the sight in front of me. The apartment smelled really badly of cigarette smoke and you could literally see it in the air. There were also beer bottles littering the floor. There had to be at least twenty beer bottles sprawled out across the living room and kitchen. "Oh, my God," I turned to Libby. "How long has your apartment been like this?"

She shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about, Andre."

I wanted so badly to reach out and slap the living daylights out of her. But my mom raised me to never treat a girl badly no matter the circumstances, so I resisted from doing that. "Libby…where is my son?" I asked angrily.

"Okay, you know what…he's not just your son." she said, pointing her finger in an obnoxious way. "He's my son just as much as he is yours."

"Yeah, well, based on what your apartment looks like, it doesn't seem like you've been a good mom to him." I said and turned around. Then I called out, "Branson? Where are you, buddy?"

"Andre, stop it!" said Libby from behind me and grabbed my arm.

I yanked out of her grip and turned to her. "Don't…don't you dare touch me."

She glared at me, but didn't fight back.

I continued to call out Branson's name as I walked through the apartment. I figured the best place to look would be his room and sure enough, that's where he was. When I walked in, he was lying in his bed with a rag held to his forehead. His other hand was smashed against his nose, as if he was trying not to smell something. I knew what he was doing there; he was trying not to smell the smoke in the apartment. It was even making my nose crunch in disgust.

"My poor baby," I muttered before walking over to him. "Hey there," I said and bent down. I ran my hand over his head. "Are you alright, buddy?"

He didn't have to say anything. All he did was pull the rag from his head and I saw it. He had a gash smack dab in the middle of his forehead and it was bleeding badly. I looked at the rag and saw a lot of blood on it. I looked back at the cut, but there was so much blood that I couldn't even tell how big the cut was.

I pressed the rag back to his forehead and said, "Here, keep holding this to your head." Then I picked him up, cradling him in my arms and turned around. Libby was standing in the doorway with her arms crossed. I simply shook my head and said, "Shame on you." I walked out of the room, right past her.

I walked as fast as I could to get out of this apartment. I don't care what anyone says, I'm not allowing Branson back in this apartment ever again. At this point, Libby and I had been divorced for almost five months and to think that Branson had been living in this environment for five months was heartbreaking to me. I wished he would have told me about it, but he was only four when the divorce happened and was currently five. He probably didn't know how to explain it to me.

Just before I reached the door, Libby grabbed the back of my arm and pulled me back to her. "Hey, wait a minute! You can't just take him away from me! He's mine as well!"

I heard Branson let out a squeal. He didn't wanna be here. I leaned down and kissed the top of his head to comfort him and then looked back up at Libby. "Two things, Libby…it's my weekend with him. You were supposed to drop him off at my house forty minutes ago and you failed to do that. Second of all…did you not just hear his squeal when you said that? He doesn't want to be here with you. You treat him like crap."

Her eyes widened. "Oh, so you think that I did that to his head?"

"Kind of,"

"Well, for your information…I didn't."

"Then would you like to tell me what happened?" I asked in the calmest voice I could muster up.

She sighed heavily. "I was sitting on the couch and he came to ask me something. I told him no and asked him to go to his room. He turned around and tripped and fell on a piece of glass."

I immediately looked at the ground in front of the couch and saw a half-broken beer bottle on the floor. I shook I was so angry. "You let him fall…on a broken beer bottle?"

"It wasn't my fault!" she screamed. "He's the one who fell! It's his fault that he tripped!"

I laughed at how ridiculous she sounded. "His fault? Really? He's five years old, Libby! Plus, everyone trips at some point or another! If you hadn't had that stupid beer bottle in the floor, this wouldn't have happened! This is one hundred percent your fault, no questions asked!" I shook my head at her. "I can't believe you've been putting him through this." I didn't even wanna stay here. I turned around and walked out the door. Just before I closed the door, I looked back at Libby and said, "Don't you worry…you'll get to drink all you want now. I'll make sure that you lose custody of Branson."

As soon as I was in the car, I made my way to the hospital. I wasn't sure if Branson's cut needed stitches or not, but I didn't wanna take a chance. On our way, I asked Branson questions to keep him occupied. "Hey, Branson, can you tell me what happened?" He was lying in the backseat with the rag still pressed against his forehead.

"I tripped." he said in a small voice.

"Okay and when you tripped, what did Mama do?"

He hesitated. "She told me to be quiet and sent me to my room."

I gritted my teeth. I hated Libby more and more by the second. "Do you know how long you were lying in your room before I showed up?"

"I don't know." he said. "But it felt like you would never show up. It took forever."

I gulped. "I'm so sorry, buddy."

"It's okay, Daddy." he said. He sighed. "Is it true? Will I really not see Mama anymore?"

"Well…that depends." I told him. "If she can't treat you right, then you won't."

"Daddy, please…" he begged. "Don't make me go back there. I love my mama, but…I hate to stay with her. It always stinks over there and I cough at night. Then…she drinks from those glass bottles all the time and I want to stop her from doing it, because it makes her act all funny."

My eyes filled with tears. No child deserves to live like that. "Has she ever hurt you?" I asked quickly. "Tell me the truth."

"No," he answered.

"Do you promise me?"

"Yeah, I promise." he told me and his voice sounded truthful.

I nodded and then I pulled into the hospital parking lot. I parked my car and then jumped out to get Branson out of the back. I picked him up and cradled him into the emergency room doors.

Branson got five stitches on his forehead. I wanted to cry as I watched them stitch him up; it didn't hurt him since they gave him something to numb it, but the way they numbed it was very painful to watch. They put something on it first and then gave him a shot right in the cut. He let out a few cries, but he was okay; I held his hand tightly through it all.

Ironically, Branson was actually taking it better than I was.


	18. The Final Straw for Tori

**Hey guys! So…I'm updating quicker than I normally would, but one of my reviewers, who reviews under the name "TandreIsAmazing" and who is one of my friends, literally begged me to post it! I mean, she literally was begging me! (And I bet she's laughing reading this right now) haha! :D**

**But anyways, here's the next chapter! And you will hate Caleb more than ever before in this one! Didn't think that was possible? Just wait…**

Tori's POV

That coming up summer was the summer that I had had enough. Caleb did something that completely drew the line and I knew that I wasn't gonna take another day of living like this.

Just a month or two prior to this, Caleb got another job. He worked at the local twenty-four hour truck stop as a car mechanic from 9:00 at night to 6:00 in the morning. I worked during the day as a receptionist at a hospital. It wasn't a lot, but I still had money saved up from my time on Broadway. Caleb brought in a little more than minimum wage, so he wasn't getting a whole lot of money either. You could say that Caleb and I were just barely getting by on our bills. We weren't poor, but we weren't rich. It helped that we lived in a small house that didn't require a lot of maintenance.

Since Caleb worked nights and I worked days, I didn't see him as much as I did before, so that was nice. It wasn't that much of a difference though; I saw him momentarily in the morning, but he usually went right to sleep after getting home from work. Then when I got home at 5:00, I would only have to be with him for about four hours. Since it was summer, Shayla was staying at a babysitter's house during the day. I was the one who dropped her off and picked her up. I'm not afraid to say that I did not trust Caleb alone with Shayla anymore. I was incredibly protective of her.

The only bad thing was that he had Saturday nights off. It was a Saturday that he did the worst thing he could have done.

Even though he didn't have work, he left the house at 5ish and didn't come back for the rest of the evening. I stayed up a little late, waiting for him to get home, but I could only stay up so long. I got extremely tired and fell asleep at around midnight.

The next thing I know, the light was turned on. I opened my eyes and turned over just in time to see Caleb standing over my bedside. "What have you been doing?" he screamed.

"Sleeping," I told him. "What were you doing?"

"Is that any of your business?" he screamed and bent down and hit me hard on the head.

It hurt so bad that it gave me a headache. I rubbed my hand on the side of my head, trying to block out Caleb's screaming. He was currently screaming profanity at me and saying how much of a horrible wife I was. My eyes filled up with tears; he beat me up and I was a bad wife? I didn't understand that logic, but I still didn't say anything. I was just waiting for this to end.

One of the last things he said to me was, "I hate your guts! I don't even know why I married you! I know one thing; it was the hugest mistake of my entire life! Oh, wait…I take that back. You're the hugest mistake of my life next to Shayla. I don't know why you love her so much! I hate that child!"

I could pretty much handle anything he told me, but when he brought my baby in the mix, that's when I drew the line. I jumped out of bed and began to scream in his face. "Don't you dare talk about Shayla in that way! You don't spend enough time with her to know that she is in fact a fantastic girl! She is beautiful and smart and she loves you so much, but I guess you don't love her!" Shayla was turning into a really beautiful girl. People said that she looked like me, but you could see some Caleb in her as well (which I hated, but no one knew that). She had long brown wavy hair like me and she had my eyes. There wasn't anything specific about her that made her look like Caleb; you could just see it in her face. "Now what–" I couldn't finish talking because Caleb slapped me hard across the face. He wasn't done though.

He pushed me against the wall and got just an inch from my face. I was about to slide down the wall, but he grabbed onto my shoulders tightly and wouldn't let me go. "Don't you ever…ever…talk to me in that tone of voice, do you understand me?"

I nodded, a little shaky, hoping he would take it as my apology, but he wasn't done with me then. He started punching me and kicking me. Just like it was every time he hurt me, there was nothing I could do but wait for it to end. It seemed like every punch radiated throughout my whole body. His hits affected me in ways that I didn't even understand.

It took a good three minutes for him to stop hitting me. Then he suddenly ran in the opposite direction. Just then, I heard the most horrifying little scream in the history of the world. Then I heard, "Daddy, please stop! I'm sorry!"

"No!" I screamed and jumped up and ran over to Caleb. I began to yank on his arm. "Stop it! Get your hands off of her!" To see him hitting Shayla was terrifying. She was only four years old and here she was getting hit by her own daddy.

I never imagined that my life would turn out like this.

Caleb turned around a moment later and released his wrath on me. I screamed out, "Shayla, run!"

I saw her get up and run out of the room.

It took Caleb another two minutes before he was done hitting me. That was when he finally ran out of the room. I heard him open the door and slam it. I knew that meant he was leaving. Wow, what a winner…he comes home, beats on his wife and child, and then leaves to probably go drink some more. I bet his mom, who was in fact a fantastic lady, would be oh so proud if she knew he was like this.

When I finally got the strength to stand up, I headed out of the bedroom and went to Shayla's room, assuming she had run in there. I looked around, but didn't see her. I called out her name a few times and then she came running out of her closet. I bent down and she ran directly into my arms. "Oh, baby, I'm so sorry." I said starting to cry. "I hate that that had to happen to you, sweetheart. You didn't deserve it at all."

She didn't respond. There wasn't really anything to say. All she did was cry.

The first thing she said when she recovered from crying was, "Mommy, I don't wanna stay here anymore. I'm scared Daddy is gonna hurt me again. I wanna leave."

"You know what, baby?" I said after a moment of silence. I pulled her out of the hug and looked her directly in the eye. "That's exactly what we'll do. We'll just get out of here and leave."

Her eyes bugged out. "Really?"

"Yes, really," I said. "We can fly out to California where Granny and Papa live." Granny and Papa is what Shayla calls my parents. She calls Caleb's parents just Grandma and Grandpa.

She nodded. "When will we go?"

"I don't know, sweetheart." I told her. "I'll need to make some arrangements for a plane ride down there, but I promise…first thing in the morning, I will start making calls. I'll also need to call Granny and Papa and let them know we're coming."

"I'm excited!" she exclaimed and squealed.

I giggled and then suddenly noticed a red mark under her eye. I looked at it closely for a moment before finally realizing it was one of the places Caleb had hit her. Hopefully she didn't have too many bruises on her face.

I grabbed her face and kissed her forehead gently.

The very next morning, I started to make my phone calls. My first call was made to an airport to get tickets to LA. The first available open was fortunately just four days later. And it was also a red eye flight, taking off at 10:50 p.m., which was more convenient. As soon as Caleb would leave for work, I could begin finish packing for Shayla and me and then we could just leave. I felt kind of bad in a way to just leave like this, but this situation was getting out of control. If I were to just tell him I want a divorce, he'd probably try to kill me. It was so weird; even though he said he hated me, he wouldn't have wanted me to leave, but there was no way I could stay with him. He'd more than likely end up trying to kill me someday. I didn't wanna stay to find out when that would be.

After I made the flight arrangements, I called my mom. "Hey Mom," I said once she picked up. I was currently at home and sitting in the kitchen. I had no clue where Caleb was (I hadn't seen him since the night before) and Shayla was still asleep. She lost sleep from the night before; after the incident with Caleb, she couldn't go back to sleep. I ended up sleeping in her bed with her and it took her an hour to go back to sleep. I spent that whole hour comforting her and rubbing and scratching her back.

"Oh, hi, honey." she said. "How are you?"

"I'm okay," I told her. "But…there's something I need to tell you."

"Is it exciting?"

"Uh…well…it'll be shocking." I told her. "Why?"

"Well, because it's seven in the morning over here."

I gasped. "Oh, my gosh, I forgot about the three hour time difference. I'm so sorry, Mom. Do you want me to call you back later?"

"No, sweetie, it's fine." I said. "I had just woken up anyway. So what's up?"

I sighed shakily. "Brace yourself, Mom,"

"I'm braced," she said. I could tell that she was smiling, but I had a feeling that she wouldn't be smiling for much longer. "Why did I need to brace myself?"

I gulped. "Caleb…is abusive."

"What?" she exclaimed.

"He's abusive." I repeated. This was the first time to say the words out loud and it felt really weird for me. "Mainly to me, but…last night…he hit Shayla. That's when I knew it was the last straw. I've already made arrangements to move out to LA. Shayla and I can't stay anymore."

"Wait…back up a bit…he hit Shayla? Like…really hit her?"

I nodded, even though I knew she couldn't see me. "Yes, he really hit her…with his fists and everything. She's probably gonna have some bruises."

"Oh, my God," she said. "Does he hit you?"

My eyes filled up with tears. "All the time,"

She sighed shakily and remained silent for awhile. I knew this must have been a lot to take in. She finally said, "Baby, how long has this been going on?"

I let out a shaky sigh. "It started when Shayla was just five months old, so…almost four years."

"Honey, you've been dealing with this for four years?" she exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me or your dad? Especially your dad…if you'd told him, he could have gotten Caleb arrested and he would be in jail right now and you and Shayla wouldn't be dealing with this right now."

"Mom, please…" I said. I now had tears running down my cheeks. "No one knew about it. Well, except for Jenna, but she found out on her own."

"Jenna? You mean Caleb's sister?"

"Yeah," I said. "She found out last Christmas when she saw handprint bruises around my wrists."

"Oh, my God, honey," She sighed. "This…this is still too much information. To even know that he's been putting bruises on you is…is just…it's painful."

"I know, Mom," I said. I was quiet for a moment, letting this idea soak into her brain for awhile. Afterwards, I explained my idea to her about Shayla and me getting into a plane and coming to California. She loved the idea, but her only concern was what if Caleb flipped out when he realized I took Shayla away from him. I told my mom that I'd never heard Caleb say that he loved Shayla in years, so I assumed he would be okay. I was more worried about how he felt about me leaving him.

**Well? Do you hate Caleb more than ever before?**

**And by the way, since it came up in one of my reviews, I'm going to clarify a few things about the ages of everyone. Andre and Tori are both 25, Branson is 5, and Shayla is 4. And the events that happened last chapter and this chapter both happened around the same time, like within a few days of each other.**

**I just wanted to make that clear in case there was some confusion! Don't forget to review! :)**


	19. LA Bound

**Well, based on your reviews last chapter, I assume you all hate Caleb's guts. Understandable. He's such a loser, oh my gosh! I can't even stand him! Ugh! He's just awful!**

**Anyway, things will begin to get better! Enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the song "Who Are You" by Carrie Underwood**

Tori's POV

Over the next four days, I secretly began to pack a suitcase for me and for Shayla. I figured I would pack one weeks' worth of stuff for both of us and that would be enough for now. I could wash what I had and also buy new clothes while in LA. I would probably have a chance to come back and get the rest of my stuff as well.

In the end, I realized along with two suitcases for me and Shayla, I would pack a carry-on bag for both me and Shayla that carried some extra stuff we would need. I kept all bags in the back of my closet, so Caleb had no idea. Throughout those four days, he stayed away from Shayla, but he continued to beat on me. I was actually okay with it, because I knew I would be away from it in just a few short days. I couldn't wait to be away from this. I didn't know how much longer I could handle it.

The day finally came that I would be leaving. I went to work that day, but only to say that I was quitting. I told my boss that it was for personal reasons and he let me go. He was sad to see me go since I was one of the best receptionists they'd had, but he understood about personal things. Plus, since I quit, he couldn't really say no.

An hour before he left for work, Caleb flipped out on me for literally no reason. I didn't do a thing. He grabbed me around the neck and threw me on the ground. Then he kicked me roughly in the back. Then he went off to the bedroom to cool off for a little bit. I laid there on the ground, trying to recover, and fifteen minutes later I went to the bathroom. I pushed my hair off of my neck and there wasn't a bruise yet, but I could tell one was forming. I knew what the beginning and end of a bruise looked like.

"Bye, I'm leaving for work." said Caleb as he was leaving a little bit later.

I smiled. "Bye, see ya later." My back was currently really sore, but I took some medicine and it helped some.

He softly smiled at me and then stepped out the door and closed it behind him. I looked out the window and watched him get in a cab and I followed it as it drove away. "Yeah," I whispered to myself. "See ya, loser." I immediately ran out of the kitchen and into my bedroom and started to do some last minute packing. I had already tucked Shayla into bed at eight, so I knew that along with all the suitcases, I would have to carry my sleeping child.

Once it was 8:50, I called a cab to take us to the airport. I got my suitcase, Shayla's suitcase, and both of our carry-on bags ready by the front door. I waited by the door until the cab driver showed up. He walked up to the door and smiled at me. "Hello ma'am. Where are we headed?"

"The airport," I told him.

"Okay and are we ready to leave?"

"Yeah, just let me go get my daughter."

"No rush," he said. "Would you like me to help you load up these suitcases?"

"Oh yes, that would be great," I said with a smile. "Thanks,"

"No problem,"

I smiled and then headed back to Shayla's room and saw that she was sound asleep in her bed. I sighed shakily, hating that I was about to wake her up, and walked over to her bedside. I smiled down at her and then rubbed my hand over her forehead. Luckily, the bruises she got weren't that bad. She had a little bruise under her right eye and then some bruises on her arms and a bad one on her right side. It looked really bad the day after it happened, but it was getting better. "Baby, wake up," I said gently.

It took me a moment, but I finally got her to wake up. She moaned and looked at me, rubbing her eyes. "Hi Mommy,"

"Hi cutie," I whispered. "It's time to go."

"I'm sleepy, Mommy." she said sleepily. "Will you carry me?"

"Of course, sweetie." I told her. She pushed the covers aside and then raised her arms up. I picked her up and she rested her head against my shoulder. I was just about to walk away, but then I noticed her little bear still in her bed. "Hey Shayla?"

"Hmm?" she mumbled.

"Do you want Harry?" Harry was her bear's name.

"Yes!" she exclaimed.

I giggled and bent down and picked him up. I handed him to her and she snuggled up with him, burying her head in my shoulder. Before walking out of the room, I grabbed a pair of Shayla's sandals and then walked out to the front. The cab driver had, by this time, loaded all of our bags. I grabbed my purse from the table and then walked to the door. I looked back at the house and it was like every memory of Caleb flooded back into my brain.

I looked at the house for another second before turning around and walking out of the house, closing the door behind me and locking it. I proudly walked away from the place that had been my personal hell and into that cab. "Ready?" he asked.

"Yep,"

"Here we go," he said and started to drive off.

I smiled and looked at my daughter's sleeping face. I pushed some of her hair out of her face and leaned down to kiss her forehead. I didn't know what would happen once we got to LA, but what I did know was that it was the beginning of mine and Shayla's new life.

Once we were dropped off at the airport and the cab driver had already driven off, I looked at the five bags and realized that I couldn't carry Shayla while carrying all these bags. I hated to do it, but I woke up Shayla. "Sweetie, I'm sorry to wake you up, but I'm gonna need some help getting inside."

"But I'm sleepy, Mommy." she mumbled.

"I know, baby, I am too," I told her truthfully. "But we've got to work together, okay? Once we get the bags past bag check, I'll be able to carry you, but I need your help in carrying these bags."

She sighed and said, "Okay, Mommy,"

I kissed her forehead and set her on her feet. She was wearing the sandals that I had grabbed at the last minute, but other than that, she had her pajamas on. I didn't wanna dress her up since we would just be flying on a plane. I had dressed down as well; I just had on sweat pants, a t-shirt, and a jacket. I figured that we'd both sleep on the plane, so I wanted us to be comfortable.

Since Shayla was so tired, I only had her pull her own suitcase along. My extra bag was a backpack, so I carried it on my back obviously while I pulled my suitcase. I was just carrying Shayla's bag on my arm. I could have had her carry it, but she was sleepy enough and I didn't wanna give her any more than she had to pull along. She was practically sleepwalking she was so tired. I had to direct her around because she almost ran into things. She was barely holding onto her bear by one of his hands.

Once we got my suitcase and her suitcase through bag check, I was able to carry her which she was very thankful about. I was too actually, because I felt more comfortable holding her with all the people in the airport. I knew she was safe against me.

I could have wandered around the airport, but I wanted to go ahead and get through security. Once that was over with, I went ahead and waited at our gate. I sat down at a place next to the window and looked out at the plane that was getting ready. I couldn't wait to get in it and get out of this place.

We didn't get called on until another thirty minutes. As I was handing my boarding pass to the lady, she smiled and said, "Is this your daughter?"

I smiled and nodded. I was very proud of my little girl.

"She's so pretty." she told me. "Looks like she'll be breaking some hearts one day."

I giggled. "Thank you," There's no better compliment than when someone says something sweet about your kid.

I walked through the terminal still holding onto my sleeping child and got on the plane. It was so nice to sit in my seat. I let Shayla sit next to the window not just because she likes the window seats, but because I felt that she was safer right there. I was protective of her before, but ever since Caleb hurt her, I became even more protective. It would kill me if something ever happened to her. I love her with everything I have.

The plane was a little delayed, so instead of taking off at 10:50 like planned, it took off about five minutes after eleven. The pilot came over the speakers and said that our flight would be about five and a half hours. If that was correct, we would land in LA at about 4:30 New York time, but 1:30 LA time. I already knew that both Shayla and I would have jet lag really badly. It would take us awhile to get used to the time difference. I remembered how hard it was to get used to the time change when I first moved to New York to start rehearsals for The Wizard of Oz.

The plane ride went very smoothly. Shayla generally stayed asleep the whole way there except when she had to wake up to go to the bathroom. I got a little sleep, but I had a hard time getting comfortable in my seat. I knew for sure that I would be exhausted the next day.

Since I couldn't go to sleep, I just sat there in my seat and looked out the side window. It was dark out, but I could see some lights off in the distance. Then I looked down at Shayla. I gulped and ran my fingers over her hair. No one understood how much she meant to me. I don't know if it's like this with every parent, but it was sure like that for me.

I found some scratch paper in the seat in front of me and a pen as well, which gave me an idea. I smiled and then put the tray table down. I put the paper down, clicked the pen open, and I scribbled words on the page.

_Who are you?_

_The one for who I'd really gladly suffer_

_ Who are you?_

_The one I'd always love above another_

_ You're my world_

_ You're my hope_

_ You're all my dreams_

_ And all my heart_

_ Who are you?_

_The one I'd give my life to_

_ Who are you?_

_That loves as deep as I do_

_Who are you?_

_Who takes me through the flood and through the fire_

_Who are you?_

_Who leads me through the desert and the dry_

_You're in my thoughts_

_You know my mind_

_You are my fate_

_You are my light_

_Who are you?_

_The one I'd give my life to_

_Who are you?_

_That loves as deep as I do_

_You're my savior_

_You're my center_

_My beginning and my end_

_The one I live for_

_You're my angel_

_Who are you?_

_You're in my thoughts_

_You know my mind_

_You are my fate_

_You are my light_

_Who are you?_

_The one I'd give my life to_

_Who are you?_

_That loves as deep as I do_

_Who are you?_

_Who fell on me like fire_

_Who are you?_

_Who chained me to desire_

_Who are you?_

_You're the one I'd give my life to_

Once I finished, I looked over at Shayla and smiled. I leaned over and gently kissed the top of her head. "You are my baby girl."


	20. Finally Home

**Happy Saturday! I should so be doing homework right now, but instead, I thought I would update for you guys! Hope you like this chapter! :)**

Tori's POV

We arrived at LA at exactly 4:37 (well, technically at 1:37). Shayla was still conked out, so I went ahead and got both of our bags and carried her off the plane. Nothing was waking her up. I could tell she was exhausted. Even though she slept on the plane, she squirmed around a lot, so I could tell she didn't sleep very deeply. The only bad thing was that once we got our baggage, I would have to wake her up and have her pull her own bag along.

Everything was going smoothly (we got our baggage, I woke up Shayla, she pulled her suitcase along with only little complaining) until we got to the place right before security. I saw a young couple standing there; it looked like they were saying goodbye to each other. He had the bags around him as if he was leaving. They were currently talking, but then they started to hug. I bit my lip, remembering when I had that exact moment years before.

_Andre and I had to say our goodbyes just before I was about to go through security. I watched all the people go through the metal detectors and take off their shoes and I saw families doing it. My eyes filled up with tears knowing that I would be going through there alone._

_ "What's wrong?" asked Andre._

_ I shook my head. "Nothing," I turned to him and wrapped my arms around his waist. He put his arms around me and held on tight. "I just don't wanna go,"_

_ "I know, baby," he told me. "I know,"_

_ "Promise me something, Andre," I said and pulled away. "I may be far away, but as long as we're still together, we have to stay faithful to each other. Don't get me wrong, I trust you. I trust you with all my heart, I really, really do, but…Andre, girls love you. They…they flirt with you and want you to be with them, but…just…"_

_ "No, I know," he told me and put my hands on my cheeks. "I have your heart and I promise you that I won't break it. Now will you make me a promise?"_

_ "Anything,"_

_ He grabbed my hands and put them over his chest. "You have my heart and I trust you not to break mine."_

_ A single tear fell down my cheek. "I will never break it,"_

I really hoped that this couple had more luck with their relationship than Andre and I did. It had been so long since I'd thought about him, which got me thinking…what was he up to? I remembered the day Jade and Cat told me he and his wife-to-be were expecting a baby. Were they still together? How was their baby doing? Was it a boy or a girl?

I had no way of knowing the answer to any of those questions.

I quickly got out of that airport and headed to my parents' house. It was in the middle of the night and they knew I was coming, but I still felt bad for just coming this late. My parents either stayed up late or went to bed extra early. All I knew was that they told me they would wait up for me until I got there.

It was so nice to get to my old house. The cab driver helped me with my suitcases. I thanked him and paid him and then Shayla and I walked up to the front door. Just as I was about to knock on the door, Shayla looked up at me and said, "Mommy?"

"Yeah, baby?"

"Is Granny and Papa here?"

"Of course, sweetie," I told her. "That's why we're here."

She yawned. "What about Aly and Tanner? Are they here?"

I giggled. "I don't think so, honey. They're probably at their own home sleeping right now." Aly and Tanner were Trina and her husband Adam's kids. Aly was currently six and Tanner was three. Shayla fell right in the middle of their ages, so she got along with both of them really well. She didn't see them very much, but she was still close to them. But now that she lived in the same city they did, she would get to see them more often now.

I didn't even have to knock on the door, because my dad was there to meet us. I guess he saw us walking up to the porch. He smiled at both of us. "Why, hello, you two,"

"Hey Daddy." I said and hugged him.

After we hugged, Shayla said, "Hi Papa!"

"Hey there, ladybug," he said and picked her up and gave her a hug. I will never understand why my dad calls Shayla ladybug, but it sure is a cute nickname. I can't help but giggle whenever he calls her that.

"Well, come on in." said my dad. While still holding Shayla, he picked up her bags while I picked up mine and carried them in. He set them down and then shut the door. "I bet you're exhausted."

"Oh, you have no idea," I said and yawned. "But I'm so glad to be here." Then I gave him another hug; I wrapped one arm around his neck and my other arm around Shayla. It was this moment that I realized the only guy who will never break my heart is my daddy. He will also never break Shayla's heart and that's the best thing I could ever ask for.

"I'm glad you're here, too," he said when we pulled out of the hug. He looked at Shayla and kissed her forehead. "Both of you,"

I smiled and then looked around the house. "So where's Mom?"

"Oh, she's sleeping," he answered. "She tried staying up to wait for you guys, but she crashed thirty minutes ago."

"If she crashed, how come you didn't?" I asked.

"I took a really long nap earlier, so I was okay," he said. "Plus, I've had a lot of cups of coffee tonight. The caffeine has worn off a little and I'm starting to get sleepy." It was amazing that my dad hadn't mentioned Caleb yet. I knew my dad knew about what he'd done since my mom probably told him. He probably didn't wanna say anything about it in front of Shayla.

Just a few minutes later, I went upstairs and put Shayla to bed. It was planned out that we would just sleep in my old room for the time being. My old bed was big enough for the both of us.

While I had been putting Shayla to bed, my dad pulled all of our suitcases and bags into my room. I thanked him for that and we headed back down the stairs. As we were coming back down the stairs, my dad said, "Okay, Tori…now that it's just us…we need to talk." His voice was serious.

I sighed shakily and nodded. We both walked to the kitchen and sat at the breakfast table. "What do you wanna talk about?" I asked. That was a stupid question and I knew it.

He eyed me. "Come on, Tori. We both know what we need to talk about."

I sighed. "I know,"

He shook his head. "What made Caleb turn that way? Did something happen?"

"Besides the fact that he turned into a raging alcoholic, nope," I said. "I still don't know why he did it in the first place. I think he had a reason at the time, but I don't remember what it was."

"You told your mom that he was abusive…when you say abusive, how do you mean?"

"I mean…hitting," I told him. "He made fists with his hands and punched me. He also slapped me, backhanded me, and kicked me. Oh and he would also grab me by the hair and pull it until I got a headache." I didn't wanna mention the way he grabbed me around the neck and threw me on the ground. That was honestly the most violent thing he'd ever done to me.

He shook his head. "Why, honey? Why did you put up with it for so long?"

"Dad, I don't know." I said and stood up. I walked to the back door and looked out at the nighttime sky. I crossed my arms. "It was…it was a mistake; I know that. I'd already fallen in love with him and…I don't know…I guess…a part of me hoped that he would change." I looked back at my dad. "But…he was a completely different person than from when we first got married. He became very apologetic at times and swore to me that it would never happen again and…I guess I believed him. It finally got to where he stopped apologizing and he would just avoid me altogether. Then…I would do something wrong…and he would come at me."

"What did you do to make him do that?"

"Nothing!" I exclaimed. "That's the thing…nothing! I could have breathed too loudly and he would come at me with a fist. Nothing I did was good enough in his eyes. He was always abusive."

He nodded his head once towards the stairs. "What about Shayla. Your mom said that he hurt her. How often did he hurt her?"

"Only once," I said. "And that's when it was the last straw. To see him hurting her was so painful. I would have rather him hit me for hours than for him to hit her for just a second."

"Well…to even think about him hitting either one of you is painful enough for me." he said. "Honey…come here,"

I walked over to him and stood in front of him. "What?"

"Let me see your arms,"

I sighed heavily and held out my arms. He pushed the sleeves to my jacket back and he saw the numerous bruises all the way up both arms. What was more prominent than the other bruises was the handprint bruises around my wrists.

My dad gently ran his fingers across some of the bigger ones and then he bent down and kissed one of them. I squeaked from the pain; it was one that Caleb gave me just a couple days before. He let go of my hands and looked up at me. "Honey, how long as it been since you haven't had bruises on yourself?"

"I…I don't know." I said shakily. "I honestly can't remember."

He stood up and grabbed my face and kissed my forehead. "Listen to me, sweetheart; you did not deserve the years of abuse that you received. I wish you had told me and your mom about it sooner, but…you know…better late than never. And I can't blame you for it. I wasn't in the situation and I don't know what happened. But…what I do know is this. I will make sure you never have to face Caleb ever again."

I burst into tears and collapsed into his arms. "I love you so much, Daddy."

"I love you, too, baby." he said and kissed the top of my head. After I recovered, we pulled away and he said, "Well…I think you need to go get some sleep. You look so exhausted."

"I feel exhausted." I told him. I gave him another quick hug. "Goodnight, I'll see you in the morning."

"Goodnight, honey,"

I smiled at him and then headed up the stairs and into my room. I looked at Shayla and saw that she was already out like a light. I smiled down at her and then leaned down and kissed her forehead. I just couldn't get over how much I loved her. She was my whole world. I wanted to give her the best life I possibly could.

After I got in my pajamas and brushed my teeth and washed my face, I snuggled up in bed next to my baby girl. It was the best night's sleep I'd had in such a long time knowing that I was in a safe house where no one could hurt me or my daughter.


	21. Like My Mother Does

**Hey guys! Happy Sunday! So I know I updated just yesterday, but once again, my friend ("TandreIsAmazing") begged me to update. Haha. So I hope you guys like this chapter. I think it's a sweet one, but my opinion doesn't really matter. So please review! :)**

** Disclaimer: I don't own the song "Like My Mother Does" by Lauren Alaina.**

Tori's POV

I woke up feeling really refreshed the next morning. I turned over and saw that Shayla wasn't in bed anymore. I picked up my phone from the nightstand and checked the time: 10:45. She had gotten a lot more sleep than I had, so she'd probably been awake for a while now. She was at that age that whenever the sun came up, she woke up. The first time she did that, I asked, "It's early, Shayla. Why are you up right now?"

Her response was, "The sun woke me up."

I couldn't help but let out a giggle; she was only two at the time.

I jumped out of bed and headed out of the room and down the stairs. I saw my mom in the kitchen getting a cup of coffee. I smiled and said, "Hi Mommy!"

She looked over at me and smiled. "Oh, Tori," She put the cup down. "Come here," We walked up to each other and tightly hugged. "I love you so much, sweetie."

After we came out of the hug, I went and sat at the breakfast table. "Would you like some coffee?" she asked.

"Yeah, that would be great." I said and then my phone beeped. I picked it up and realized that I had a new voicemail…from Caleb. "Oh God," I whispered.

"What?" said my mom.

"I have a new voicemail…" I looked up at her. "From Caleb,"

"You don't have to listen to it," she said immediately. "You can just delete it and forget about it."

I looked at my phone in silence for a moment and then slowly shook my head. "I can't. I've gotta listen to it or it'll drive me crazy." I went to my voicemail and put the phone to my ear. I braced myself, because I knew that it probably wouldn't be a very nice message.

It wasn't nice at all. The first of it was nothing but him using profanity at me. He was basically asking where me and Shayla were and that if I'd left him and that if I had in fact left him, the next time we saw each other, he would kill me. The last thing he said was the scariest thing. He said, "You deserved all the things I did to you. You are an ungrateful wife and I will sue you if you did leave and take my daughter with you. You will lose custody and she will be all mine."

I slowly put the phone down and looked up at my mom. I breathed heavily for a moment and then said, "Mom…where's Shayla?"

"She's with your dad; they went to go get some food." she said quickly. "What did Caleb say?"

"I think you should listen to it." I said shakily and went back to the voicemail. I handed the phone to my mom and she put the phone to her ear. She listened to it with an angry expression on her face. Her jaw dropped when she got to the end of it.

She said angrily, "No way in hell is he getting Shayla." Then she pressed a few buttons and put the phone back to her ear. She waited a little bit and then said, "Hi Caleb…this is Holly, Tori's mom. Hear me now and hear me good. You stay the hell away from my daughter and my granddaughter. If you ever even think about coming near them again, I will get one of my husband's guns and shoot the living daylights out of you. Understand me? Yeah, you better," She hung up the phone.

"Dang, Mom," I said. "Were you really talking to him?"

"Yep," she said and handed me my phone back. "Well…not technically. I left it as a voicemail and if he values his life, he better listen to me."

"Wow," I said shaking my head. "Thanks, Mom. But what if he gets mad and does something bad?"

"What could he do?"

"Well…what if he has the police listen to that voicemail?" I said. "I'm not saying I don't love what you said, because I do, but what if you get in trouble for that?"

"Oh please," she said. "Your dad's a cop, Tori, and besides, if they question me about that, I will tell them why I told him that. Some way or another, he's gonna pay for his actions. He will soon learn that hurting you and Shayla was the biggest mistake of his life." She leaned in and kissed my forehead. "Don't you worry, honey…you will never have to see that lowlife again and I won't get in trouble for telling them what I just told him. Trust me,"

"Thank you," I said and gave her a hug. "You're the best mom in the world."

She giggled. "Next to you," she said and we pulled apart. "I'm not kidding, Tori. You are being the best mom in the world to Shayla. She is so lucky to have someone like you looking after her. I just know that she'll grow up to be a beautiful and smart young lady just like her mother."

I softly smiled and then shook my head. "If I'm so smart…why would I let Caleb treat me like crap for years?"

"Honey, things happen." she said. "It's the past and that's all that matters. Besides…I'm sure you'll find some other guy one day that will treat you with the respect that you deserve."

I laughed. "Yeah, I don't think so. I'm done with guys for a while."

She giggled, but then stopped and her smile disappeared altogether. She was looking at me in a horrified way. "Tori?"

I looked around, wondering if she saw something, but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. I looked back at her and said, "What's wrong?"

She pointed in the general direction of my neck. "On your neck. What is that?"

I knew exactly what she was talking about. It had been long enough now that a lovely bruise had formed around my neck. If you looked at it closely, you could tell that it was handprints that made the bruise.

I sighed shakily and pulled my hair off of my neck so she could take a look at it. My mom gasped and jumped up from the table. "Oh, my God…Tori…what did he do?"

I looked at her and blinked a few times. "What it looks like he was doing. He grabbed me around the neck and threw me on the ground. Then he kicked me in the back." I stood up and raised my shirt. There was a huge bruise on my back. "Which left this,"

My mom looked at it closely for a moment, but then she shook her head and sat back down. "Put your shirt down, baby. I can't look at that anymore."

I did what she asked and sat back down next to her. "I know it seems bad, but you know…life happens."

"Tori, it doesn't seem bad, it is bad." she told me. "It seems to me that you and Shayla got out of that house just in time. I swear to you, if he ever comes near you or your daughter again, I will kill him."

"Mom–"

"No, I'm serious," she said and she sounded serious. "I know it's wrong to hate people, but oh, my gosh…I hate that man so much. When someone hurts one of my daughters, I go crazy. It's a mom thing."

"Must be," I said. "Because I feel the same way about Shayla."

My mom was about to say something else, but then my dad and Shayla came in with some food. Shayla was really excited to see me awake since she had been awake since the sun rose. She had played in the living room while my parents watched TV until she and my dad went to go get food.

After we ate, I went back upstairs and wrote a song within thirty minutes. I smiled as I read over the lyrics.

_People always say I have a laugh like my mother does_

_I guess that makes sense_

_She taught me how to smile when things get rough_

_I've got her spirit_

_She's always got my back_

_When I look at her, I think I wanna be just like that_

_When I love, I give it all I got_

_Like my mother does_

_When I'm scared, I bow my head and pray_

_Like my mother does_

_When I feel weak and un-pretty_

_I know I'm beautiful and strong_

_Because I see myself_

_Like my mother does_

_I never met a stranger_

_I can talk to anyone_

_Like my mother does_

_I let my temper fly and she can walk away_

_When she's had enough_

_ She sees everybody for who they really are_

_ I'm so thankful for her guidance_

_ She helped me get this far_

_When I love, I give it all I got_

_Like my mother does_

_When I'm scared, I bow my head and pray_

_Like my mother does_

_When I feel weak and un-pretty_

_I know I'm beautiful and strong_

_Because I see myself_

_Like my mother does_

_She's a rock_

_She is grace_

_She's an angel_

_She's my heart and soul_

_She does it all_

_When I love, I give it all I've got_

_Like my mother does_

_When I'm scared, I bow my head and pray_

_Like my mother does_

_When I'm weak and un-pretty_

_I know I'm beautiful and strong_

_Because I see myself_

_Like my mother does_

_Like my mother does_

_I hear people saying I'm starting to look_

_Like my mother does_

After I finished, I just thought to myself that I could never write another song with that much meaning in all my life. Although the one I wrote for Shayla earlier sure comes in close behind.


	22. Something Missing

**Short chapter, guys! I'm sorry :( but don't worry…the next chapter will be way longer! And since this one is short, I'll be posting the next one tomorrow!**

**Hope you guys enjoy! We finally are back in Andre's POV! :D**

Andre's POV

I ended up calling the police on Libby for what had happened to Branson and she got into some major trouble for it. She wasn't arrested, but she did lose custody of him and she had to go through some therapy for her drinking problem. She wasn't allowed to see Branson again until she proved she could get her feet back on the ground and be a good mother to him.

In the meantime, Branson was staying with me, which I didn't mind one little bit. He actually seemed a whole lot happier with me than he ever did with Libby. I sorta felt bad for literally taking Branson away from Libby, but every time I thought about what she let happen to him, I pushed the bad thoughts out of my head. Part of me actually hoped that she could get her life together so she could see her son again, because I knew how much she loved him.

Branson and I were having so much together. Since it was summertime, I didn't have to worry about taking him to school, so we just hung out at my house all the time. Branson was a little water bug, so he had fun swimming a lot of the time. He couldn't swim on his own yet, but give him some water floaties, put him in the pool, and he's occupied for at least an hour. There was a pool in our backyard, so it worked out really well.

One day in June when Branson was swimming like nobody's business, I decided to jump in the pool with him. As I was swimming around as well, Branson came up to me and said, "Daddy, throw me!"

"Throw you?" I asked with a smile. "What do you mean throw you?"

"Pick me up and throw me!" he exclaimed. "Please!"

I laughed. "Get over here!" I grabbed him, held him in the air, and threw him in the water. He screamed as I threw him and when he came up, he was laughing his head off. I giggled and said, "Did you like that, buddy?"

"Uh huh!" he said. "Do it again!"

I giggled, but did it again nonetheless. After doing it a few more times, Branson looked at me with a serious expression and said, "Daddy?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you miss Mama?"

My heart started thumping hard. Branson rarely talked about Libby, but when he did, it was always about something serious. "Maybe a little bit," I hated lying to him, but I couldn't say no to his face. "Why, do you?"

He nodded. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry?" I asked. "She's your mother. You have the right to miss her."

"But…she hurt me." he said and looked at me. "It feels wrong to miss her even when she hurt me."

Branson never seized to amaze me by how smart he was. He'll understand more than you give him credit for. "That's human nature, buddy. That's just how it is."

He nodded. "So it's okay for me to still miss her?"

"Of course it is,"

"Okay," he said with a smile. "Do you think I'll ever see her again?"

"Oh, I'm sure you will." I told him. "I don't know when that will be, but I'm positive you'll get to see her very soon."

"Good," he said.

"Hey, Branson, you know what?" I said, changing the subject.

"What?"

"You've been swimming long enough." I said. "How about we go somewhere else?"

"Like where?"

I smiled at him. "Is the park okay?"

"Yeah, let's go now!" he said and swam to the edge of the pool. He got out and started to run.

"Hey, Branson, stop!" I yelled and he stopped dead in his tracks and turned to me. "No. Don't run, okay? That would be a good way to get yourself hurt."

He nodded vigorously. "Okay, Daddy, I'm sorry," Then he turned around and walked off to the outside bathroom, closing the door behind him.

I sighed heavily and got out of the pool. I dried off some and then went in the house and into my bedroom. Every time I walk in the bedroom I can't help but think that I should have someone else in there with me. This house was so big and it had been so much better since Branson was living with me, but I still felt like something was missing.


	23. Reunited at Last

**This is it! This is the chapter that you all have been waiting for a long time for! I hope you guys love this chapter just as I much as I do. I'm not even kidding, I had a big giddy grin across my face when I wrote it. :D**

**Enjoy! :)**

Tori's POV

After being cooped up in the house for a week, I decided it was time to go and explore LA a little bit with Shayla. My mom let me borrow her car and I took it and drove it around for like an hour before finally stopping at a park. There were a lot of people with their kids at this park.

Shayla and I got out and she ran over to the playground. I trusted that she would stay close by, so I went and sat down at some of the benches. There were so many cute little kids here and it was nice to see Shayla interacting with kids her age. She had friends back in New York, but it seemed like she wouldn't see them anymore.

After sitting there for a few minutes and enjoying the atmosphere around me, I looked up and tried to spot Shayla. My heart stopped when I realized I had no idea where she was. I looked all around me and then let out a sigh of relief when I saw that she was at the swings.

She wasn't there by herself though. She was playing and laughing with another boy about her age. From where I stood, he looked to be a really cute little boy. He had little brown curls on his head and a light brown skin tone. There was something about the way he and Shayla interacted that warmed my heart. I hadn't seen her laugh like that in a long time.

I smiled and got up and walked over to the two playing. "Hey, you guys." I said.

Shayla and the little boy looked at me. "Hey Mommy!" she said. "Look, it's Branson! I just met him!"

I looked at the little boy, whose name was apparently Branson, and smiled. "Hi Branson." He was seriously the most adorable little boy I had ever seen.

He smiled a small smile and waved. "Hi,"

"Where's your mom?"

Suddenly, the look in his eyes changed. He looked down and said, "Uh…she's not here."

"Well, where is she?"

"I don't know." he said. "I'm not allowed to see her anymore for a while, because she hurt me."

"Oh, my gosh," I whispered and bent down to get eye level with him. "I'm so sorry, Branson." Little kids tend to exaggerate things, but I could tell by the look in his eyes that something serious must have happened. Besides, I wouldn't think that little kids would lie about their mom hurting them.

"It's okay," he said. "I'm living with my daddy for now though."

"Well, that's good." I couldn't help but notice that the situation between Shayla and Branson was the exact opposite. Shayla had me, her mom, and Branson had his dad. "So where is your daddy?"

He looked behind me and smiled. "Right there! Hi Daddy!"

I stood up and turned around simultaneously. My breath caught in my throat and my heart skipped a beat. I didn't realize I'd stopped breathing until my lungs started to burn and I finally took in a breath and let it out shakily. "Uh…hi,"

Andre smiled warmly at me and said, "Well, hi there. Long time no see,"

"Yeah," I said a little out of breath. "Um…I'd say so,"

I smiled and then he smiled back. We just stood there smiling at each other like idiots until Shayla said, "Mommy?"

I shook my head and looked down at her. "Yeah, baby?"

"Do you know him?"

"Yes, I do," I told her. "This…this is Andre Harris." I looked back at Andre. "Andre…I'd like for you to meet my daughter, Shayla Thomas." It was then when I said her name was Thomas that I realized I wished it wasn't. I wanted to change it to Vega, but I couldn't, because legally, she was still Caleb's daughter.

"Hi Shayla." said Andre with a smile. He looked behind me. "Branson, can you come here, buddy?"

Branson walked around and stood next to Andre. "Tori…I'd like for you to meet my son, Branson Harris." He looked down at Branson. "And Branson…I'd like for you to meet Tori…" He eyed me, as if he didn't know what my last name was.

"Vega," I said quickly. "It's Vega. Tori Vega,"

Andre nodded and softly smiled. "Tori Vega,"

Andre and I stood there smiling like idiots for another few moments. I was just in so much shock to see him like this. Now the answers to the questions I had back the airport were pretty much answered. Were he and that girl still together? It didn't appear so. How was that baby doing? He seemed to be doing okay. Was it a boy or a girl? It was a cute little boy. I still couldn't believe that in that moment I was talking to Branson that it was Andre's son. Now that I looked at him closely, he did look like Andre.

After those few moments of smiling like idiots, I finally said, "Well…how about you kids play and…me and Andre can catch up?" I looked at Andre, hoping he would agree.

"Yeah, that sounds great." he said and looked down. "You guys just keep playing on the swings and don't go wandering off, okay?"

Shayla and Branson both nodded. I thought it was interesting how Shayla listened to Andre as if he was her father or something.

Andre and I walked over to the benches and sat down. We smiled at each other for another moment before I said, "Okay…we've been smiling like idiots for long enough now. I think it's time we talk."

He giggled. "Yeah, I agree,"

I sighed. "So…where do you wanna start?"

"Hmm," he said. "How about we just ask each other questions and go from there?"

"That works," I said. "You go first."

"Okay," he said and thought about it for a moment. "Alright, I got one. Why does Shayla have the last name Thomas, but you don't?"

"Well…easy," I said. "That's her dad's last name."

"But why isn't it your last name?" he asked. "Aren't you married to him?"

"Um…technically I am, but…I don't wanna be." I told him. "That's why I came back to LA. I had to get me and Shayla away from him."

"And why is that?" he asked, eyeing me suspiciously.

I sighed heavily. "Um…let's not go there right now. Right now I'm gonna ask you a question. I was talking to Branson before you walked up and he said something about how his mom hurt him. What's that about?"

He hesitated. "It's…a long story."

I shrugged. "I got time."

"Okay," he said and sighed shakily. "Branson's mother, Libby…and I are divorced. We've been divorced since January. Libby and I had an arrangement; Branson would live with her, but he would stay with me every other weekend and on Wednesday evenings and I found it very peculiar how he wasn't very happy to go back to Libby. One day it was so bad that he was screaming and crying, because he didn't wanna leave me so badly."

"Oh, my gosh," I whispered.

"It worried me, but I didn't give it too much thought." I said. "But…there was this one day…it was a Friday and Libby was supposed to drop him off at my house at three, but she didn't. I kept calling her and leaving her voicemails, but she never answered and never called me back. Finally, when she was thirty minutes late, I'd had enough, so I got in my car and drove to her apartment. That's when I realized the kind of environment I had been putting my son into.

"There were beer bottles everywhere. It smelled like smoke and you could even see the cigarette smoke in the air. What's worse than that is that Libby was drunk."

I gasped. "Oh no,"

"Yeah, it was awful." he told me. "I searched all around the house and found Branson in his room. He had a rag held to his forehead and I got closer to see what was wrong. I asked him what had happened and he pulled the rag away. There was a cut on his forehead and it was bleeding badly."

"Are you serious?" I asked in a whispered.

"Yep," he said. "I was furious. I scooped Branson up and walked right out of the room. I had a fight with Libby and she was saying how I couldn't just take Branson away from her and a bunch of other nonsense. It was my weekend with him, so I had a right to go get him like that."

"Of course you did," I said. "My God, that's awful."

"Yeah, I know," he said. "I took Branson to the hospital and he got five stitches on his forehead. The next day, I called the cops on Libby and she's lost custody of Branson. She's currently getting some help and until she can prove that she'll treat Branson right, she'll lose permanent custody of him."

"Oh, my gosh," I said and shook my head. "When did this happen?"

"About a few weeks ago," he told me.

I shook my head again. "I just can't imagine why she would let that happen to him."

"She was drunk." he said. "And…actually, she didn't stab him in the head or anything. What actually happened is that he tripped and fell on a beer bottle. What made me so mad was the fact that after it happened, Libby ordered him to his room. She didn't even care enough to help him."

I was about to ask why he married her, but I would feel like a hypocrite if I asked that. Instead, I cleared my throat and said, "Do you think she'll be able to get her life together and see Branson again?"

"I don't know." he said. "She's…she's a good person; she really truly is and I know how much she loves Branson. I'm not saying I don't regret taking Branson out of there, because I'm glad I did; he was hurt and I wasn't gonna take another day of it. It's just…I don't know. I don't care what happens; I just want it to work out for Branson." He giggled nervously. "This might sound really cheesy and cliché, but…I love Branson more than anything. He's my whole world."

I smiled at him. "Guess what?"

"Hmm?"

"That's how I feel about Shayla." I said. "I love her more than anything and she's my whole world. I don't know what I'd do without her."

He nodded. "How old is she?"

"Four," I answered. "What about Branson?"

"Five," he told me. "So they're about a year apart."

"Just about," I said. "When is his birthday?"

"May tenth and when is Shayla's?"

I laughed. "Wow, what a coincidence. Shayla's is May seventeenth. That means they're exactly a year and seven days apart."

"Wow, that's pretty cool," he said. "So…I know that you said you didn't wanna talk about it, but…I'm sorry…I'm curious. Why did you and Shayla move out here to LA without her dad?"

I gulped. "Okay…I'll tell you, but…you have to promise you won't flip out."

"It's okay, I'm calm,"

Remembering how protective he was of me back when we were together made me worry that he wouldn't be calm after I told him. "Alright, well…I could drag it out and…start from the beginning, but there's no point in doing that, so…long story short…Caleb, my…husband and Shayla's father…is abusive."

"Abusive?" he questioned.

"Yeah," I said. "Like…if we were talking a week ago, I could hold out my arms and you would see bruises. And…" I gulped. "You would see a few bruises on Shayla."

His eyes widened. "You've got to be kidding me."

"I wish I was," I said. "I really do, but…I'm dead serious. It started when Shayla was just five months old and lasted until just a week or so ago when I decided enough was enough. So I got Shayla and we left."

"Okay, Tori, I'm sorry; I know you said you were gonna make it a short story, but I gotta hear the whole story." he said, getting slightly angry. "I gotta know everything. What did this douche bag do to you and your precious little girl?"

I smiled at the fact that he referred to Shayla as "precious little girl," but then I quickly wiped the smile off my face and began to explain my four years of agony with Caleb. I summed everything up pretty well and explained some of the major things that had happened, such as the time Shayla saw him hitting me and the time Jenna found out about it without me having to say a word to her. I also told her about the time recently when he'd hit Shayla. That was very painful.  
I tried not to cry, but I couldn't help but shed a few tears while explaining my past situation to Andre. I lost it when I was explaining the time Caleb hurt Shayla. "And…I promised her that I wouldn't let him hurt her, but…I broke that promise. When I saw him beating her up…I just…I thought that I could never hate someone so much. She was screaming and begging for him to stop, but…he just…he wouldn't stop and…when he finally did…he lashed out on me." That's when I really started crying. "I still can't believe he hurt her, Andre."

Andre leaned forward and gave me a comforting hug without saying a word. I wrapped my arms around him and continued to cry. I forgot how amazing it felt with his arms around me. It never felt this way with Caleb even before the abuse started. "It's okay," he whispered and rubbed his hand over the back of my hair. "You're safe; you both are. You'll never have to deal with that jerk ever again."

"You have no idea how amazing it is to hear that." I mumbled in his shoulder.

Once I recovered, we continued to talk and catch up on life. We didn't talk about Caleb or Libby; we just talked about life in general and what we were up to. One thing I asked him was, "So how is your music career going?" I knew he had to be making music. He was always so good at it when we were teenagers. He's probably gotten better with time.

"It's going pretty well," he told me. "I've written like a million songs, but I think I'm only gonna put a certain amount of them on my first album." He slowly smiled at me. "Wanna know the name of a song that I'll be putting on there?"

"What's that?" I asked with a smile.

"It's just a little song with the name of 'What Makes You Beautiful.'" He grinned widely. "Please tell me you remember that song."

I giggled and nodded. "Now how could I forget about the song that saved my life?"

"You know, it's kind of funny…I played that song for our friends for the first time just a few weeks ago actually and they had no idea that I'd written it for you." he explained. "They thought that it was for Libby."

"When you say friends, you mean…?"

"I mean Beck, Jade, Robbie, and Cat," he said with a smile. "Remember them?"

"Remember them, are you kidding me?" I exclaimed. "They were some of my best friends; I think about them all the time! What have they been up to lately?"

He giggled and said, "Well…Beck and Jade finally tied the knot a year or so ago and guess what?"

"What?"

"They're currently expecting a baby girl."

My eyes widened and I let out an excited squeal. "Oh, my gosh, really? But wait…I thought Jade hated kids and babies. How is she gonna deal with this?"

"Well…it's her baby, so that helps," he said. "And she's only five months, so she has a ways to go and more time to get used to the idea of having a baby around."

"Now why wasn't I invited to the wedding?" I asked jokingly.

"Dude, we wanted you there; no kidding!" he told me. "It's just that we had no idea where you were or what you were doing. But guess what? You'll be going to Jade's baby shower whenever she has it."

I giggled. "Well, that's great, but I'd like for her to invite me. I don't wanna show up uninvited."

"Well, trust me," he started off. "Once she finds out that you're back, she will invite you."

"Sweet," I said. "Okay, so you just caught me up on Beck and Jade, now what about Robbie and Cat?"

"Well…they decided that they were meant for each other, so they got together and, actually, just four months ago…" He looked off into space for a moment, thinking. "Wait…no, it was four months ago…yeah…anyway, sorry. They now currently have four-month-old twin boys and they are the cutest things I have ever seen. Their names are Colton and Tyson."

"Aww, that's so cute!" I exclaimed. "I hope I can see them sometime soon!"

"Oh, believe me…you'll get to." he said. "I see them about once a week or so."

"Sweet!" I exclaimed. Andre and I spent the next hour just chatting about small talk. I couldn't help but think while talking to him, why did we break up? I know that we had been fighting a lot, but couples fight. We should have been stronger and overcame those issued. What I do know for sure is that if we had stayed together and ended up getting married, he would never in a million years have hurt me like Caleb had.

After that hour of talking, both Branson and Shayla were worn out from all the playing, so Andre and I went and scooped them up in our arms and started to walk back to our cars. As we were walking, Andre said, "So I'd really like to stay in touch."

"Me too," I said. "I have the same phone as before, but I had to get my number changed since I moved all the way across the country. I'll probably have to do that again since I'm living here, but I can still give you my current number, so we can keep talking."

"Sounds good," he said and pulled his phone out of his back pocket. "What's your number?"

I gave him my number and he saved it in his phone. He smiled and put his phone back in his pocket. "Got it,"

I giggled. "Great,"

"Well…I gotta get home now, but…I'll see you later."

I nodded. "Yeah, bye,"

I smiled at him again and then I opened the back seat to my car and put Shayla in the seat and buckled her seatbelt. She moaned and looked at me. "Mommy?"

I glanced at Andre and saw that he was putting Branson in the backseat of his car. "What is it, sweetheart?"

"Do you like Andre?" She was looking up at me with the sweetest and most innocent little eyes I'd ever seen. My heart melted looking down at her.

I couldn't help but lean down and kiss her forehead. "Yeah, honey. He's…he's a really good friend of mine."

"Did he ever treat you like Daddy did?"

Those words made my heart rip in two. It was so sad how the only man she knew was an evil man who hurt her and her mother. "No, baby. He was always such a gentleman to me."

…

Andre's POV

"Daddy?" mumbled Branson, already half-asleep.

"What's up, buddy?"

"Do you like Tori?"

I smiled at him and rubbed my hand over his head. I gently ran my thumb over the little scar on his forehead. "Yes, I do. I really, really do."

"Do you like her in the same way you used to like Mama?"

Dang, he was a smart kid. "Well…I don't know. This is my first time seeing her in years." I shrugged. "But…who knows? I may like her again in that way."

"Again?"

"Yeah," I said. "I was with her before I knew your mother."

He slowly smiled. "She seems really nice."

"Oh yeah," I told him. "Yeah…she's a very sweet person."


	24. Family

**Here's the next chapter! It's not very long, but I still hope you guys enjoy it! :)**

Tori's POV

When I got home, I carried Shayla upstairs and put her in bed for a nap. As I was coming down the stairs, my phone started to ring. I glanced at the caller ID and saw that it was Jenna. I gulped and with my heart pounding in my throat, I pressed accept, and answered it. "Hello?"

"Hi Tori," said Jenna. "What's up?"

"Uh…nothing," I said confused. "What about you?"

I couldn't tell if she sounded mad or not. I left her brother, so I assumed she would be on his side. Of course, she did know what he had done to me. "Nothing, just…sitting here with my mom,"

My heart instantly started pounding even harder. She was with her mom. That was two against one. "Oh," I didn't know what else to say to that.

Jenna sighed. "Listen, Tori…you probably think that I'm mad at you right now, but…I'm not."

"Really?" I asked shocked.

"No," she said. "I didn't even know you and Shayla left until today. Caleb just told my mom about it today and then she came to my house and told me. We've been discussing it for about thirty minutes and then we called you."

"Oh," I said. I hadn't talked to Caleb since before I left. I guess he really had listened to my mom's message to him. "So…does Caleb hate me?"

She sighed. "Well…he's not particularly happy with you right now, but…there's nothing he can do about it. Apparently your mom said some interesting things to him and told him to stay away."

"Yeah…she did." I said slowly.

"Yeah," She cleared her throat. "So…he's decided to stay away from you and Shayla."

On the inside, I cheered loudly. On the outside, I nodded and said, "Okay,"

"And he says that he's just so furious and that he wants to do something to try and get Shayla back to him, but…he won't do anything."

My eyes filled with tears. "How do you know?" I asked shakily. "What if he's serious?"

"Tori…he wasn't." she told me. "I know my brother and I know when he's just bluffing or when he's being serious and I can assure you that he's just bluffing. He's just angry right now, but he'll get over it. He's gonna learn that his actions made him lose his wife and his daughter."

I hesitated a moment before saying, "So, wait a minute…you're not on his side?"

"Normally I would be, but…considering the situation…I'm not." she told me. "I'm backing you up one hundred percent on this. I don't think it was right for him to have done what he did."

I nodded, even though I knew she couldn't see me. I had a habit of doing that I guess. "Yeah,"

"Yeah," she said. "So…I'm gonna hand the phone to my mom, because she wants to talk to you."

Before I could protest, the phone was passed to her mom. "Hey there, honey." she said in her sweet voice.

"Hi Joanie," I said in a shaky voice. Jenna and Caleb's mom Joanie was probably one of the nicest ladies in the world. It was crazy how such a sweet lady could have a son with so much hatred.

"Okay, Tori, listen…I don't blame you for what you did." she started off. "You had a right to get away from Caleb. He was treating you and your baby girl badly and I understand that you probably felt like there was nothing else you could have done."

"I felt trapped." I told her. "I didn't know what else to do."

"I know," she said gently. "So…changing the subject a little bit…where exactly did you go?"

"I moved back to LA." I explained. "I'm living with my parents for now."

"Oh, that's good." she said. "I bet that's nice."

"Yeah, it's great." I told her.

"And…you have the right to say no to this question, but we were just curious; would you be okay with staying in contact with all of us over here? And I don't mean Caleb; you don't have to ever see him again. I just didn't know if you wanted Shayla to see us anymore, because we sure would like to see her again."

I smiled to myself. "Of course I'd like to stay in contact with you guys. I know how much Shayla adores all of you. I would never want to take her away from you guys."

"Oh, thank you so much, Tori." said Joanie. "That means so much to me. And I promise you that you will not ever have to face Caleb ever again. Jenna was right; normally we're on his side for everything, but not this time. He had no right to hurt you and Shayla like that."

There are two things I don't regret from being with Caleb: Shayla and his family. Shayla is the best thing that's ever happened to me and Caleb's family are some of the nicest people in this world. In a way, if I had never been a part of "The Wizard of Oz," I wouldn't have Shayla.


	25. Moving Too Fast

**So once again, I am being forced to update by my friend. She literally begged me. Hehehehehe (I don't know why that was funny…oh well.) Haha.**

**Okay, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: oh and the song that Andre is talking about in this chapter, is called Stand Up by One Direction and I do not own it.**

Tori's POV

After being in LA for a full two weeks, I decided it was time to officially divorce Caleb. So that's what I did. Since we were living on opposite sides of the country, we each had our own lawyer from where we lived. According to what Caleb's lawyer told my lawyer, he wanted me to come back to New York and go over everything and work things out, but I refused. I did not want to face him at all. That's why all of our paperwork was done through our lawyers by mail. I didn't care what the cost was; I refused to see Caleb's face. I had had enough of that man.

The day I got the notice that Caleb and I were officially divorced, I cried tears of joy. I could not have been happier. I was also happy that Shayla would never have to face him again. According to the court, Caleb abandoned Shayla, so there was no custody arrangement made. Shayla was mine and all mine and that was really something to be happy about.

I eventually got to where I needed more than a weeks' worth of clothes. I felt like I was washing all the time and I was getting tired of doing that. So I made a deal with Joanie and Jenna. One weekend, my mom and I flew out to New York and went to my old home where Caleb and I had lived (which looked exactly the same as when I'd left) and we packed up all of my things and Shayla's things. I knew that Caleb wouldn't come in the house, because he was with his family. That was the deal I'd made with Joanie and Jenna; Caleb was with them and they wouldn't let him go back to his house until I was long gone. As I was heading back to the airport, I texted Jenna and told her we were done. Caleb would probably notice that some stuff was gone, but I didn't care. He would probably be too drunk to care. Even though the house looked the same, there were still beer bottles littering the floor. The house didn't particularly smell that great either.

My spare time in LA was spent either looking for a house of my own or spending time with Andre. We didn't even talk about getting back together; it was never even questioned. We simply hung out and talked while Shayla and Branson played. It was so cute to watch them play together. They were already the best of friends. It was awesome, because it was as if Andre was my best friend again. We went from friends, to best friends, to boyfriend-girlfriend, to nothing at all, and to best friends again. It was nice to be best friends with him again.

Along with Andre, I was catching up with all my other friends. Andre was right; Robbie and Cat's twin boys, Colton and Tyson, were the cutest little boys I'd ever seen. It was great to see Robbie and Cat again. When I first stepped in their house, Cat gave me a huge bear hug. I had to tell her to lighten her grip.

It was really nice to see Beck and Jade again as well. The last time I'd seen Jade was at that restaurant with her and Cat and we'd gotten into a big fight. I apologized to Jade for that fight and she apologized to me. We acted as if it never happened. After apologizing, she started to talk about her pregnancy and how excited she was to have a baby girl in just four months. I told her that I was excited for her.

One day, Andre and I left Branson and Shayla with my mom and we went to the studio and I listened to Andre record some music. All of the songs were about love. A couple of them were about relationships gone wrong and I could tell they were about Libby. But there was one song in particular that I could tell was about me. It was called "Stand Up" and it was basically about how he would do anything for me and that he won't stop going after me until he's finished stealing every piece of my heart, says the song. It was really sweet and all, but I didn't want him as a boyfriend right now. It was nice to just have him as a friend.

After he played it for me, he walked out of the studio and smiled widely at me. "So…what did you think?"

"Um…it was…good." I said slowly.

"Good?" he asked. "Just good?"

"Okay, it was better than good." I admitted. "It was great." Even though I didn't like that it was about me, I couldn't deny that it wasn't a great song. Andre sure did have a special talent with writing music.

"Well, thank you," he said with a smile and sat down in a chair next to me. "You thought it sounded okay and everything?"

"Yeah, it sounded great." I told him.

He smiled. "Nice. So…you know who I wrote that for?"

My heart was pounding really hard. I could tell where this conversation was going. "Um…I don't know…Libby?"

He giggled. "Oh, please…" He moved his chair closer and got right in front of me. I slightly backed up. "I haven't written a love song for Libby in years. That song was about you."

I gulped. "Oh,"

"Yeah…oh," He slowly reached out his hand and caressed my cheek. I shivered under his touch and immediately had a flashback go through my brain.

"_I'm so sorry. I feel awful about what I did last night." Then he looked at me in the face. He gently ran his fingers over the cheek that wasn't bruised. I shivered under his touch. "Listen to me, Tori…I lost it last night and…I totally regret what I did. If I could take it back, I would. If I could take back giving you this bruise, I would," He leaned in and very gently kissed the cheek that was bruised. I blinked a few times and tears rolled out of my eyes. When he pulled away, he wiped away the tears. "I understand if you're angry right now. I would be too. It's just…I hope you can understand that I am honestly and truly sorry. I love you and Shayla so much and I would never want to throw that away. You are the best thing that's ever happened to me." He gently kissed me. "I'm sorry."_

I shivered again and jumped out of the chair. "I'm sorry, Andre…I can't do this."

"Do what?" he asked and stood up. "All I did was touch your cheek. Is that wrong?"

"No, but…that song that you just wrote for me." I said. "It's a love song. Do…do you love me?"

"Tori, you know I do." he said gently. "Why would you even question that?"

"I…I don't know, it's just…well, we haven't seen each other in years," I reminded him. "You're saying that you can just go back to the way things were?"

"I didn't say that, Tori, you did." he told me. "And…maybe we can't go back to the way they were exactly, but…I mean, come on," He walked right up to me and grabbed my hands. "You can't deny that we didn't have a great relationship."

I slowly and gently pulled out of his grip. "Yeah…we did."

"Okay, so what's the problem?" he asked. "We could just…start all over. Forget everything that's happened."

"Forget?" I exclaimed. "After everything Caleb did to me, you really think I can forget that? Andre, he abused me for four years. I can't just let that go."

"Tori, you're not the only one that's had a failed marriage." he said. "I tried to make it work with Libby, but she was impossible. And now she has a drug problem that I didn't even know about until it was almost too late."

"Andre, are you not getting something?" I asked, starting to get a little angry. "Libby didn't abuse you! You have no idea what I went through!"

He raised his eyebrows. "Really? I don't know? Well, have you forgotten what Libby did to Branson? She left beer bottles around her apartment which caused him to trip and his head landed on one. Have you seen the scar on his forehead? If you haven't, maybe you should have a look at it."

"You think you're the only one that's experienced something like that?" I exclaimed. I was now angry. "Caleb hurt Shayla. Like intentionally; Libby didn't even mean to do what she did. It was probably just an accident and she didn't know how to deal with it, but Andre…Caleb intentionally hit Shayla over and over again. You don't understand what it's like when the person that you fell in love with years ago hurts your own child."

"Whose side are you on?" exclaimed Andre. "Libby didn't care about Branson! She knew exactly what she was doing! Her eyesight is perfect; she knew exactly what had happened to Branson! There was no accident about it!"

"Well, then, maybe Branson shouldn't have tripped." I regretted those words as soon as they left my mouth.

"He's five!" he exclaimed. "It's not his fault this happened!" He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "You know, Tori…maybe you're not the person I thought you were. In high school, you were the sweetest person I'd ever met. Now I don't know if you are anymore."

I crossed my arms. "Well, in case you forget, I've been through a lot since high school. I also went through a lot in high school and you know that. You saw what happened to me."

"Well…I guess things change." he said and took a step closer to me.

"I guess they do." I said.

We just stood there and stared at each other in anger. It's like we were fighting with our eyes; we were both too angry for words. After staring at each other in anger for a few seconds, something clicked our brains and we embraced each other and started making out. I don't know what came over me at all.

_I backed up against the counter and put my hands on it. Caleb was still right in my face. "Caleb, what has–" He reached out his hand and backhanded me in the face._

_ He hit me so hard that I knew a bruise would form. I immediately started crying and slid down to the ground. I covered my hand over my cheek and looked up at Caleb. He was glaring down at me, hands in fists. The look in his eyes at that moment is something I'll never forget. They were blazing angry. "You're drunk," I mumbled in between sobs._

_ "Well, look at you, Miss Smarty Pants!" He kicked me hard in the side and then walked out of the kitchen and headed to our bedroom. I faintly heard Shayla crying from her room, but I couldn't get up just yet. I hurt way too much, physically and emotionally, and I was also in major shock._

I immediately pulled away from Andre after that flashback went through my brain. "Stop," I said.

"What's wrong?" he asked and then he leaned in and kissed my cheek. It was the same cheek that Caleb had bruised years before. It was the first bruise he ever put on my body. "You seemed really into it."

I put my hands on his chest and pushed him away. He looked at me confused. "No, Andre…I can't do it. You don't understand." I was backing up so much that my back hit against the wall beside the door.

"Do what?" he asked, getting closer to me. In that instant, I saw Caleb. It was like he was getting closer and closer…and closer.

"Stop!" I screamed and slid down the wall. "No! Please, don't come any closer!" I buried my head in my hands. "Get away from me!"


	26. Advice

**So, don't normally update two days in a row, but once again, I was pressured into doing this, haha! Thank my friend for it! She's the one who reminds me to update almost every time! Haha :)**

Andre's POV

I looked down at Tori in disbelief. She was crying in her hands as if I'd just hurt her or something, but I hadn't even touched her. Well, not just now.

"Tori," I said softly and bent down. I gently touched her shoulder, but she screamed when I did that, so I immediately pulled away. "Hey, Tori, what did I do?"

She was still crying, but she managed to get out, "Andre…please…just take me home."

It took Tori a good while to stand up and leave the studio. I tried to help her up, but she just screamed until I let go of her. It's like she was untouchable. I didn't know what was wrong with her.

I took her home and she immediately ran upstairs to her room and closed the door behind her. I thanked Tori's mom for watching Branson and then I took him with me and we went home. Once I was home, I pulled my phone out and called Beck. I hoped that maybe he could answer some questions I had.

"Hey, Andre, what's up?" said Beck when he answered.

"Not much, just got back from the studio with Tori."

"With Tori?" he said. "Hmm and how did that go?"

"Um…okay…at first,"

"What do you mean at first?" he asked.

"Well…it started out with me just recording some songs while Tori listened." I started off. "Then I got to record a new one that I wrote about Tori. She figured it out and it's like she got mad at me. Then we got into a fight. But then…there was a silence between us and…we kissed."

"You guys kissed?" exclaimed Beck.

"Yeah," I said. "Well…I don't know if kissed would be the right word. It was more like…a spontaneous make-out session."

"Oh…I see," said Beck slowly. "Those are nice, huh?"

"Well… yeah. It was kind of nice." I said and then sighed shakily. "But…in the middle of it…Tori pulled away out of nowhere. I don't know if it was something I did or something I said, but she changed. If I were to touch her, she would literally scream. It's like she was scared of me."

Beck hesitated. "Huh…that's really weird. Are you sure you didn't say anything that could have made her act that way?"

"I'm pretty sure." I told him.

"Hmm," said Beck, thinking about it. He was silent for a good while before eventually saying, "Wait a minute…you guys kissed, right?"

"Yeah,"

"Okay…think about it, Andre," he started off. "You kissed her and the last guy she kissed hurt her…badly."

I wasn't following him. "And…?"

He sighed in an aggravated way. "She's scarred, Andre, and has trust issues. The last guy she fell in love with and married physically abused her. For so many years, that's the only thing she's known. She probably doesn't know that good guys still exist, because the last one she was with literally screwed her over."

"But I didn't screw her over," I told him. "It just didn't work out. I never hurt her."

"I know, but you guys weren't married," he said. "You dated each other, but it wasn't like a real commitment, you know? What I'm saying is that this is the first guy that she really committed to and…you know…shared things with that she hasn't with anyone else."

I cleared my throat. I knew what he was talking about there. "Uh…Beck…no, he's not."

"Huh?"

"Uh…well…me and Tori…you know…did it," I had never told anyone that Tori and I had sex with each other.

"What?" he exclaimed. "You've got to be kidding me!"

"Nope," I said. "I'm dead serious."

"When?"

"Well…the first time–"

"The first time?" he exclaimed. "You mean to say that you guys did it more than once?"

I sighed. "I guess so. And the first time was toward the beginning of our senior year."

"Dang," he said. "That's crazy, dude."

"What's so crazy about it?"

"I just assumed that you would wait until to marriage to do something like that, but I guess not." he said slowly.

"Libby and I didn't even wait until marriage." I told him. "It was when we found out that she was pregnant that we decided to get married. Man, I thought you knew that."

"I guess I forgot." he said. "But seriously…I always thought you would wait until marriage to have sex. It just seems to be the right thing to do."

I laughed. "So you're saying that you and Jade waited until marriage?"

He hesitated and then cleared his throat. "Touché,"

"But changing the subject, I see what you're saying," I said. "Me and Tori were committed, but not in the marriage way. I just don't understand how she could be so scarred from that. I know he hurt her, but she's a strong girl. She battled anorexia and she came out of that just fine."

"That's different, Andre," he said. "Besides, she only went through the anorexia for a few months, but she dealt with Caleb for…do you know how many years?"

"Almost four,"

"She dealt with Caleb for about four years; that's a long time to be in an abusive relationship," he said. "Plus, she wasn't only dealing with Caleb; she was trying to protect her daughter from him. She was probably under a lot of stress."

"I just don't understand it." I said. "How could anyone be so hateful to someone as sweet as Tori? She's the most innocent, caring, and kind person I've ever met. The day Tori told me about him, I wanted to go straight to New York and beat the crap out of him and I still want to."

"Me, too," he said immediately. "I would love to join you, but that wouldn't do any good. Didn't Tori say that he was an alcoholic?"

"Yeah," I said. "That's what made him start hurting her in the first place."

"There you go," he said. "I'm sure Caleb was a great husband in the beginning, but he changed."

"Yeah,"

"So I have a quick question," started off Beck. "Do you want to be with Tori again?"

I sighed. "Honestly?"

"Yes, honestly,"

"Yes," I said. "I would love to be with her again. I still love her. It's just…she's not ready to be with anyone right now."

"Give it time," said Beck gently. "It's hasn't been that long that she was with Caleb. Just give her some time to recover from what happened. Besides, you just told me that you guys had a spontaneous make-out session. I'm sure she loves you just as much as you love her. She's just not ready for any kind of relationship yet."

Hearing that advice, I couldn't but think that Beck should be a therapist. He sure could give some great advice.


	27. Meeting Shannon

**To everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving, I hope you had a great one! And if you don't, well I still hope you had a great day yesterday! I had a good Thanksgiving, but I ate too much :( blahh!**

**But I thought I would update for you guys today! I completed writing this story a long time ago, but because of some reviews I got last couple of chapters, I decided to add some things to this chapter. Originally, Tori wasn't going to go through therapy, but based on some of the reviews, I thought it would be best since she did go through a lot.**

**Hope you guys enjoy this chapter! :)**

Tori's POV

I apologized to Andre a couple days later about my breakdown at the studio. He accepted my apology and we moved on. I could tell he wanted to be with me, but I wasn't ready for a relationship yet. We were currently just friends and that's how it would be stay for a while.

I told my mom about the breakdown and she suggested that I go get some therapy. That erupted into a huge fight between us. Whenever I think of therapy, I think of the therapy I was forced to go to when I was anorexic. It was awful and I hated it. But my mom told me that this would be different and so I reluctantly agreed to the idea of therapy.

Therapy turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I went twice a week for an hour each time and it helped out more than I could ever imagine. I was able to release my stored up anger about Caleb and my therapist helped me recover from what had done to me. I knew it would take time, but I was off to a good start.

Every day that I was in LA, I told myself that I needed to move out of my parents' house and get a job. Here I was: a grown woman with a child and I lived with my parents and didn't work. I really needed to get back on my feet again. I just needed to get a job first. I had no idea what to do though. I could always be a receptionist again, but I didn't have an interest in doing that anymore.

The idea of what I could do with my life came to me one day when I was out eating with my family. We were just eating and talking when we heard some loud commotion going on at the table next to us. "You can't make me eat this!" was the first statement I heard.

I looked over and saw a teenage girl with her arms crossed and a full plate of food in front of her. She was refusing to eat it. I also noticed that she had on really baggy clothes. "Honey, we just want you to be healthy!" said the lady at the table. I think it was her mom.

"Mom, I refuse to eat that!" she exclaimed. All the tables around this family were looking at them. You could tell that the girl's brother was getting embarrassed because of that. He was hiding his face with his hands. "It has too much fat in it!"

"But you need it, Shannon," said her mom. "You need to gain some weight."

"Oh, I need to gain some weight?" screamed Shannon. "Why not you just say that to the whole restaurant?"

"Honey, stop yelling," said her mom. "We ordered this food for you and I think it would be good to eat it. You used to love to eat ravioli."

"Well, Mom…this is how I feel about the ravioli now." She stood up, grabbed the plate of food, and chunked it on the ground. The food went everywhere. "Good riddance," she mumbled and ran off.

This girl's family all looked at each other in embarrassment while I looked at my own family. They were looking at me with a sympathetic expression. "Well…" I said softly and put my fork down. "I think we all know what that was about."

"Poor girl," said my mom. "I hope she's okay."

I nodded and glanced over at her family again. The parents were talking with each other and you could tell they thought that their daughter was a lost cause. I sighed shakily. I was about to do something that I would never do on a normal occasion.

I was not the kind of person that could just walk up to a stranger and talk to them like it was no big deal, but I built up my courage and stood up and walked up to this family. I stood next to the chair where Shannon had been sitting at. Her parents looked at me with a weird expression and her brother was looking me up and down. He looked about thirteen, so it wasn't hard to guess why he was looking at my body. "Hello," I said.

"Um…hi," said her mom with a questionable look on her face. "May we help you?"

"Well…I'm actually over to see if I can help you." I said slowly.

"You can sure help me with a few things." said the little brother, still eyeing me up and down.

"Sam," said his mom and glared at him. She sighed and looked back at me. "I'm sorry about that. So…as you were saying?"

I hesitated. "Well…I don't mean to pry into your personal business, but…does your daughter have some kind of…eating disorder?"

Her parents glanced at each other and then looked back at me. "How did you know?" asked her dad.

"Because I had one," I told them.

"You?" asked her mom and she looked me up and down. "When?"

I slowly sat down in the chair Shannon had been in. "When I was seventeen. I was very lucky, because I only suffered through it for three months before I started to get better, but boy I had it bad for a solid three months. I basically hit rock bottom. I was at school one day and I passed out. My breathing stopped and so did my heart beat. Thank God my best friend knew CPR, because if he didn't, I would be dead right now. He saved my life."

"Oh, my God," whispered her mom. "That's awful."

"Yeah, it was pretty bad." I said and looked over at my mom. "Mom, can you come here a minute?"

She stood up and walked over to us. My mom and Shannon's mom exchanged hellos and then they became engaged in a deep conversation about what their own child had been through involving anorexia. Since this girl's family had never seen me before in my life, I could be some big liar for all they knew. It was when they began sharing stories to each other that Shannon's mom could see the honesty in my mom's eyes. My mom even had a tear running down her cheek.

After their deep conversation, Shannon's mom looked at me and said, "Well, Tori…according to what your mom says…you really did suffer a lot from your anorexia."

I sighed shakily and nodded. "I did,"

"Um…" She cleared her throat. "I know that this is asking a lot, but…do you think you could…go talk to Shannon? We're not getting through to her and no one is. We're telling her that she has anorexia, but she's in denial. She was in a rehab center for three months, but it didn't do any good, so we took her out. That was two weeks ago and right now we're just trying to talk to her and get her to eat. She eats a little, but she has moments where she simply refuses to eat. And she's so skinny; I don't think she can afford to lose much more weight." She gulped and I could see tears well up in her eyes. "I would do anything to help her."

I nodded without hesitation and stood up from the chair. "I would love to go talk to her."

She stood up, walked up to me, and gave me a big hug. "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome," I said and then I looked in the general direction of where Shannon had run. "Do you know where she went?"

"I have no idea." she said with a sigh. "She went towards the front doors, so she might be outside."

I nodded. "Alright, I'll go look." I looked back at the table to make sure Shayla was doing okay. She was currently sitting in my dad's lap and he was giving her a few scraps from his plate. "You doing okay, sweetie?" I asked.

She looked up at me and nodded. "Uh huh," She looked back down at the food.

"Is that your daughter?" asked Shannon's mom.

I looked at her and smiled. "Yep, that's her."

"She is so precious."

My heart warmed at the comment. "Thank you,"

It took me awhile to find Shannon, but I finally did. She was sitting outside of the restaurant on a bench. She had her knees pulled up to her chest with her arms wrapped around her legs. She was wearing a jacket, but I could see her wrists and it was obvious that she was anorexic. Her wrists were painfully thin.

"Here we go," I whispered and walked up to her. I sat beside her and she glanced up at me. I smiled and said, "Hi Shannon,"

She narrowed her eyes and said, "How do you know my name?"

"I was just talking to your mother in the restaurant." I said gently. "Now don't jump down my throat when I say this, but…she was telling me that you have some kind eating disorder. Is that true?"

She sighed angrily and looked off in the distance. "If you were to ask my family, they would say that I do, but I don't. I think I would know if I had an eating disorder or not."

I smiled at the irony. "You sound just like me when I was seventeen."

"What do you mean?" she asked confused.

"Because I was anorexic," I told her. "And I was just like you. Everyone was telling me that exact same thing over and over again, but I kept telling them that I wasn't and that I would know if I was anorexic or not."

"You were anorexic?" she asked me in shock. "Why? You're skinny."

I smirked. "Yeah, well, I'm twenty-five now and that was when I was seventeen. I will admit; I was pretty thin to begin with, but…this girl said some pretty mean words to me, which is kind of what caused me to go on a downward spiral in my eating disorder."

Her eyes softened up. "So what happened?"

"Well…" I started off. "At first, I was eating extremely healthy and working out constantly. I was obsessed with everything I ate. Then it got to where I was eating less and less. I didn't have the energy to do anything anymore. Then…I was at school one day and…I passed out. My breathing stopped and so did my heart beat. Thankfully, my best friend was there and he administered CPR to me, which saved my life."

Her eyes widened. "Are you serious?" she asked shakily.

"Yeah," I said. "He told me later that it was scariest moment of his life, but that he was so glad he did it."

She nodded and then looked away. "I hope I don't end up like that." she mumbled.

"As long as you change, you won't end up like that." I said softly.

She bit her lip and looked back at me. "I never meant for it to get this bad, but…here I am. I've been this way for so long. It wasn't until my mom…started to question me about my eating habits and she figured it out. I was sent to a rehab center, but…I was in denial. I didn't believe it was true." I was amazed at how fast she had opened up to me. I assumed that she would snap at me and tell me to go away since she had never met me, but it was like as soon as I told her I was an anorexic, it was like bam! She immediately started to talk a little bit.

I nodded. "I understand," I said gently. "I've been through this and I know what that feeling is like." I softly smiled. "It sucks, doesn't it?"

She gulped. "It's the worst feeling in the world." She hesitated. "It's just…when I look in the mirror…I don't see myself being as skinny as everyone says that I am. I can feel the strain in my body, but I don't see it when I look in the mirror. When I look in the mirror…" Her eyes filled with tears. "I see fat on my body. Do you think I'm crazy?"

As I spoke, my voice was getting choked up. I understood her more than she would ever know. "No, Shannon. I don't think you're crazy at all. That's exactly how I was. Everyone swore up and down that I was crazy thin, but when I looked in the mirror, I saw a girl who was fat."

She wiped away a tear that had slipped down her cheek and nodded. "How did you get over it?"

"A song," I said simply. "My best friend I was talking about, the one who saved my life; he played a song for me that made me realize what I was doing was wrong and that I was beautiful just the way I was." I softly smiled. "The name of the song is 'What Makes You Beautiful' and right after he played it for me, I realized that I was too thin. I looked at myself in a mirror and…that's when I admitted it to myself. I knew that I had anorexia."

"Your best friend wrote a song?" she asked. "How did he do that?"

I giggled. "That's his element. He is an extremely talented musician."

"Oh," she said with a nod. "But…what would have happened if he hadn't sung that song to you?"

I shrugged. "I might still be anorexic."

Her eyes widened. "No way,"

"Yeah," I told her. "It was just that one thing that snapped me out of it. I was actually in a rehab center when he played it for me. I had therapists talking to me in individual and group sessions, but it didn't do any good. I walked in there with a closed mind, ignored everything they said, and then walked out with an even more closed mind."

"Wow," she whispered. "That's exactly how I was when I was in the rehab center."

"That's how it is." I said. I smiled and then reached with my hand and tucked hair behind Shannon's ear. "I know that you've only known me for a few minutes, but Shannon…you're beautiful. You don't need to be doing this to your body. Take it from me."

"Thank you…uh…what's your name?"

I giggled and tucked some hair behind my own ear. "Tori Vega," I held out my hand. "It's nice to meet you."

She grabbed my hand and shook it. "Shannon Laine. It's nice to meet you, too." We stood up and immediately hugged tightly.

With my arms around her back, I could feel her bones protruding out. When we pulled apart, I put my hands on her shoulders and squeezed. "Get some meat on those bones, girl."

She giggled. "I promise I will try to."

Shannon and I went back in the restaurant and since we'd bonded so well so quickly, our families pushed the tables together, so we were all eating together. Shayla got out of my dad's lap and climbed into mine. Shannon could not take her eyes off of her; she thought she was the cutest thing in the whole world. The nice comments I get about my daughter never gets old.

It was at one point during the dinner that I made my decision about what I wanted to do with my life: I would help girls with eating disorders.


	28. Moments

**The chapter you guys have been waiting for almost this whole entire story! I think it's a good one! Let me know what you think! :)**

** Disclaimer: I don't own the song "Moments" by One Directions (this is obviously where I got the title to the story from. If you can, you should listen to the song while it's being played in the story. It'll add to the emotion.) :)**

Tori's POV

Over the next few months, I worked simultaneously on two projects: my first album and a book about my struggles. In my book, I had two parts to it: part one was about my anorexia and part two was about my abusive relationship with Caleb. My plan was to release both my album and my book around the same time and the proceeds from both projects would go to a fund to help the foundation I would start about helping girls who had eating disorders. I called it "Every Girl is Beautiful – Hope for Girls with Eating Disorders." I wanted to open a rehab center in LA and I thought about making it a nationwide thing, but starting out, I would just want it to be in LA. It would be called "Every Girl is Beautiful Rehabilitation Center." (Cheesy, but it was true)

The thing about my rehab center different than the one that I went to was that it would be just for girls who had an eating disorder. Also, all the employees and therapists would be people that have had an eating disorder at some point in their life. That limited people that could work there, but I felt that the people would need to get on the girls' level and the best way to do that would be if they had experienced what they were going through. I think that's why I got through to Shannon. She knew I had gone through something similar to what she was going through and it caused her to listen to me. I mean, let's be honest…I didn't give a flip about what the people said to me when I was in that rehab center. None of them knew what it was like to be anorexic. Understanding the girls would make all the difference.

As for my album, I already had a number of songs to put on it and I wrote all but one of them. The one that I didn't write was actually written by Trina. All the songs were either about love or family. I think that every song had a lot of heart to it and I hoped that people enjoyed them. They had a good beat and I think were very enjoyable, but of course, I was a little biased. Also something else about the songs is that they had a country sound to them. I never imagined that I would be into country when I was younger, but now that I'm grown, I think country music has such a cool sound. So that's what I decided to do.

I recorded all 10 songs over the duration of a week during August with the help of Andre. I got the music from music that Andre helped create, which I was very thankful about. The music was recorded first and then I put the words in them. The sound guy for the studio was there to make sure it sounded right and Andre was there as well to help with the music and for moral support. Andre loved all of my songs and thought they had great messages.

At the end of that week when I'd finished recording the last song late on evening, Andre and I went back to his house. Luckily, we didn't have to worry about our kids; my mom was babysitting them. "It's really nice of your mom to watch Branson and Shayla for us."

"Well, Shayla is her granddaughter after all and she loves Branson." I said in a scratchy voice. My throat was sore from the constant singing all week. Andre and I would spend at least six hours a day at the studio. "She thinks he's adorable. And he is very adorable."

"Thanks," he said. "You know…the best comment a parent can receive is when it's a compliment about their kid. I bet you know how that is."

"I really do." I told him. "It sure makes me feel good."

"Me too," he said. "By the way, your voice sounds really scratchy from all that singing. Maybe you shouldn't be talking so much."

"I'll be fine." I told him. "But it would be great if I could have some hot tea." I stood up. "I'll go make some."

I was heading towards the kitchen, but Andre stopped me. "Hey, hey, wait a minute…this is my house and you're my guest. I'll make the tea. You sit and relax."

I smiled at him. "Thanks, Andre,"

He went to the kitchen and began to make the tea. Once it was ready, he poured it into a mug and brought it over to me. It was then that I noticed he had another cup for himself. "Here you go, ma'am,"

"Thank you, sir," I said and took a sip. "Mmm. This is really good."

"Yeah, it's my favorite kind of tea." he said and took a sip himself. Then he sighed and said, "So…I feel like singing. I got to hear you sing all week, which I'm not complaining about, but I didn't get to sing. How about I sing a song for you?"

I bit my lip, thinking about what happened the last time he sang a song for me. Instead of fighting with him, I nodded and said, "Sure. I'd love to hear you sing."

"Awesome," he said. "Just let me go get my guitar." He jogged out of the room and went to his bedroom and came walking out a moment later with his guitar. He sat down at the end of the couch and put the guitar's strap around his self. Then he looked up at me and smiled. "Hope you enjoy it."

I smiled and nodded.

He got his guitar tuned up and ready and his singing began just as he started to play notes on his guitar.

_ Shut the door_

_ Turn the light off_

_ I wanna be with you_

_ I wanna feel your love_

_ I wanna lay beside you_

_ I cannot hide this even though I try_

_ Heart beats harder_

_ Time escapes me_

_ Trembling hands touch skin_

_ It makes this hard, girl_

_ And the tears stream down my face_

_ If we could only have this life for one more day_

_ If we could only turn back time_

_ You know I'll be your life, your voice_

_ Your reason to be my love_

_My heart is breathing for this moment in time_

_ I'll find the words to say_

_ Before you leave me today_

_ Close the door_

_ Throw the key_

_ Don't wanna be reminded_

_ Don't wanna be seen_

_ Don't wanna be without you_

_ My judgment's clouded_

_ Like tonight's sky_

_ Hums are silent_

_ Voice is numb_

_ Try to scream out my lungs_

_ It makes this harder_

_ And the tears stream down my face_

_ If we could only have this life for one more day_

_ If we could only turn back time_

_ You know I'll be your life, your voice_

_ Your reason to be my love_

_My heart is breathing for this moment in time_

_ I'll find the words to say_

_ Before you leave me today_

_ Flashing lights in my mind_

_ Going back to the time_

_ Playing games in the street_

_ Kicking balls with my feet_

_ There's a numb in my toes_

_ Standing close to the edge_

_ There's a pile of my clothes at the end of your bed_

_ As I feel myself fall_

_ Make a joke of it all_

_ You know I'll be your life, your voice_

_ Your reason to be my love_

_My heart is breathing for this moment in time_

_ I'll find the words to say_

_ Before you leave me today_

_ You know I'll be your life, your voice_

_ Your reason to be my love_

_My heart is breathing for this moment in time_

_ I'll find the words to say_

_ Before you leave me today_

Once Andre finished singing, he put his guitar down and looked at me. "Well…what did you think?"

I had tears running down my cheeks. I wiped them away and then sighed shakily. "Oh, my gosh, Andre…you wrote that?"

"Yeah, of course," he told me. "I would never sing a song with that much emotion unless I wrote it." It was true. Andre sang that song as if his life depended on it. Just as he began to sing the first chorus, he looked like he wanted to cry. Now that he was done singing it, he looked fine again.

I gulped and said, "Who did you write it for?"

"You," he said simply.

I sighed heavily. "Andre, I told you–"

"Not now," he said instantly. "I didn't write it for you now. I wrote it a long time ago."

"How long ago?"

"The day you left to go do 'The Wizard of Oz.'" he told me. "I missed you so much, but I didn't wanna tell you how much I actually missed you since I wanted you to stay where you were and not feel bad that I missed you so much."

I slowly shook my head. "Oh, my God, Andre…that's such a beautiful song. Why didn't you ever play it for me?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I guess…I guess because it was too special of a song to play for you through video chat. I wanted to play it for you in person and I told myself that the next time I saw you, I would play it for you. But…I didn't know that we would break up just before you started your Broadway show."

"Andre, I'm so sorry I did that." I said shakily. "It was stupid. I broke up with you because we were fighting, but I should have realized that every couple fights and I should have been stronger. I felt awful about it for so long."

"It's okay, Tori." he said gently. "I wasn't mad. Okay, maybe I was a little mad, but I quickly got over it. I instantly became super busy and I'm sure you were super busy as well. Besides, it gave us a good break and…we met other people because of it."

"Oh, yeah," I said sarcastically. "We met such fantastic people. I met a man who was abusive and you met a lady who was an alcoholic."

He giggled. "Well, not at first. I don't know about you, but the best thing that came out of my relationship with Libby was Branson. I don't know what I'd do without him."

"That's exactly how I feel about Shayla." I told him. "But…you know I gotta be honest. I'm kind of glad that you didn't play that song for me back then. It definitely would have made me want to come back home. And…being on 'The Wizard of Oz' was one of the best times of my life. Maybe I was the youngest cast member, but it was still super fun. I got to sing and act and be with people that I enjoyed. Then…in the end…it gave me Shayla."

He looked at me odd. "How did the play end up giving you Shayla?"

I giggled. "The lady that played Glenda, the good witch in the play, is the sister of Caleb. She introduced us at the wrap party when the performances ended and the rest is history."

"Really?" he said shocked. "Now I did not know that. I bet you had no idea while doing the play that she would end up being your sister-in-law someday."

"I know, right?" I said. "I didn't even know she had a brother until the wrap party."

"Are you gonna stay in contact with her and Caleb's parents?"

"Oh yeah," I said. "They're great people. Besides, it wouldn't be fair for his parents for me to completely take their granddaughter out of their lives. They love Shayla to death and she absolutely adores them."

He nodded. "That's sweet."

"Yeah," I said and looked down as I took a small sip from my tea.

"So…back to the song," he said slowly and I looked up at him. "You said that…you really liked it?"

I gulped and nodded. I put the tea on the coffee table and stood up (this was serious stuff). Andre stood up as well. "Yeah…I did. It's…it's an amazing song and, Andre…I'm so sorry about just leaving you like I did. I missed out on a great relationship and a guy who would have treated me good."

"I know how you feel." he said. "But…you got a baby girl out of your relationship and I got a baby boy out of mine. We can be thankful for that."

"I would have left Caleb sooner if it wasn't for her." I said instantly. "But…I'm not talking about that. Andre, you were the best boyfriend I ever had. You treated me with so much respect and I would give anything to be with you again."

He raised his eyebrows. "Even right now?"

I sighed shakily, but then nodded with confidence. "Yes. I…I love you, Andre. I hope you feel the same way."

"Oh, baby, you know I do." he said immediately, walked up to me, and gently put his arms around me. Remembering what happened last time he kissed me, he gave me a look that said, "Is it okay if I kiss you?"

I smiled and nodded. "Yes," I was almost completely recovered from my relationship with Caleb. Therapy had been a life-saver.

"Good," he whispered and leaned in and kissed me. Oh man, the butterflies that erupted in my stomach…I can't explain that feeling. It was just pure bliss.

A moment later, I pulled away. Andre looked at me worriedly and said, "Oh, my gosh, Tori, I'm sorry. Are you okay?"

"Oh, no, no, Andre, I'm fine," I said instantly. I think he got so worried about me, because the last time I pulled away from a kiss, I had a breakdown and screamed whenever he touched me. I know he went slowly with me, not kissing me unless he knew I was okay with it, but I'm sure he was still nervous about that. "I'm okay."

"Oh, thank you, God," he said nervously. "I got scared there for a sec."

"Yeah, but I'm fine," I told him. "I just wanted to say that even though I'm glad we're gonna get back together, I wanna take it slow. I'm pretty much over my relationship with Caleb, but because of how much he hurt me, I never know if I'll have a flashback or a nightmare. I don't have them as much as I did before, but I still get them occasionally. So…can we just take it slowly? I don't wanna mess this up."

Honestly if I hadn't started going to therapy, the flashbacks and nightmares would have been so crippling that I would have gone into a deep depression. They were so bad at first and I can't say which was worse, the flashbacks or nightmares. Both of them were terrifying and made me relive my four years of agony with Caleb and I couldn't control either one of them. I couldn't stop them until the whole scene was over. I'd woken up Shayla so many times from my screams in the night. It usually took a good while each different night to convince her that I was okay.

He softly smiled and then reached out and caressed my cheek. "Of course," he whispered. "But…maybe just a kiss?"

I smiled at him. I loved Andre so much. "I love you so much." I whispered and wrapped my arms around his neck, slowly leaned in, and kissed him passionately. Even though we said that that would just be a kiss…yeah, it turned into more. Way more. One minute we were making out on his couch and the next, we were in his bedroom…


	29. The Next Morning

**Thank you guys so much for all of your kind reviews! Not just for the last chapter, but for all the chapters before as well! I seriously get so happy when I see that someone has reviewed and I get to smiling so wide when I see what you guys have to say! I'm really glad that you all like this story! That makes me very happy! :)**

Tori's POV

I slowly blinked open my eyes and let out a yawn. I opened my eyes and then gasped, rising up in bed. I looked around, not recognizing where I was. I looked down and was shocked to realize that I was naked. I immediately pulled the covers up over my chest. I looked next to me and saw that Andre was sound asleep. I suddenly remembered everything from last night.

The covers were up to Andre's stomach and I wasn't sure, but I think he was naked as well; I could tell he wasn't wearing a shirt. We had both lost all self-control after what I thought would be just a kiss.

I let out a long sigh and fell back against the pillow. "So much for taking it slowly," I whispered, turned over, and went back to sleep.

I woke up the next morning feeling very refreshed. What woke me up was the sun that came through the blinds. I stretched and smiled and looked around the room. Waking up to the sun made me think about Shayla. That made me think about her and I hoped that she was doing okay. Andre and I never called my mom last night, so I would assume that Shayla and Branson stayed with her. Oops, that definitely wasn't part of the plan.

I leaned over and was gonna grab my phone, but there was a note next to where my phone was. I picked it up and read it. "Good morning, sweetheart. Whenever you're ready to get up, come to the kitchen. I'm fixing some breakfast for us. – Andre. P.S. Branson and Shayla are here as well, so you might wanna put some clothes on!"

I giggled and then crawled out of bed and saw that my clothes were lying on the ground next to the bed. I quickly put them on and then grabbed my phone from the table. I saw that it was only 9:00.

I headed out of the room and in the living room. I saw Andre getting coffee ready in the kitchen with Branson and Shayla sitting at the breakfast table, eating their breakfast. By the time I had taken two steps out of the bedroom, Shayla looked up and saw me. "Mommy!" she exclaimed, got off the chair, and ran over to me. She jumped in my arms and I held her close to me. "I missed you!"

"Oh, baby, I missed you, too." I said and kissed her forehead. I sat her down. "Okay, now go finish your breakfast."

"Okay," she said and we walked over to the breakfast table, but she was holding onto my hand. "Look, Andre! My mommy woke up!"

Andre giggled and said, "Yes, I see that." He looked at me and smiled. "I guess you got my note?"

"Yeah," I said. Then I whispered, "Thanks for the warning."

"No prob," he whispered.

I sat at the table next to Shayla and looked at Branson. "Hi there, Branson," I said.

He looked at me and waved. "Hi Tori," He took another bite of food. "Did you and my daddy have a sleepover last night?"

Andre and I glanced at each with smiles on our faces. I looked back at Branson and said, "Yeah, we did have a sleepover."

"Was it a fun sleepover?" asked Shayla.

I bit my lip to keep myself from smiling. Thank goodness they were too young to understand it, because I said, "Yes, it was a lot of fun."

Andre finally came over to the table and we all had breakfast together. Since Shayla and Branson had a head start on eating, they were done before us. So they just went to the living room and watched some cartoons.

Andre and I scooted closer together and started to talk quietly amongst ourselves. "It's so cute to see them spend time together." I said.

"I know," he said. "I think they're already best friends."

"So I guess Branson spent the night at my parents' house last night?"

"Yeah," he told me. "I woke up at 7:30 this morning and called your mom to make sure she was awake and she was, so she brought Branson and Shayla over. I said sorry to her for having to keep him, but she was okay with it. She had a feeling that we'd fallen asleep and lost track of time, so I think Branson and Shayla just slept in your bed."

"Did you tell her what we did last night?" I asked.

"No, but she figured it out," he said with a smile.

I giggled and took a bite of food. After I chewed and swallowed, I said, "Did my mom drop them off this morning?"

"Yes," he said. "They've been here for about an hour."

"How has Shayla been?"

"Really good," he said. "Just really shy and quiet at first and she was a little upset when your mom first left. It took her a good thirty minutes to start talking."

"Yeah, that's how she is," I told him. "Even though she knows you, she's never been around just you before. She was probably a little apprehensive at first, but then she realized you were a nice guy."

"Why would she be apprehensive around me?" he asked confused.

I raised my eyebrows and said, "Think about it, Andre. Think through it slowly."

He looked off into space for a moment, but then realization hit him. He slightly gasped and said, "Oh…I get it now." He said. "No wonder she was looking at me like she was scared of me."

"Yeah," I said. "She doesn't trust men."

"Understandable," he said with a sigh. "So…I guess this means we're a couple?"

"Of course it does," I said. "It's not like last night was a one-night stand or anything."

He giggled. "Very true. But seriously…I really think we can make it work out."

I bit my lip and said, "But…what if we start fighting again? That's what ruined our relationship before."

"Tori, we were young." he told me. "We were young and stupid. We didn't know how to make it work. But…we're different now. We've grown a lot. We were in bad relationships and I think it matured both of us." He grabbed my hands. "I don't think I could love someone as much as I love you."

I sighed shakily and looked at the ground. Andre put his hand on my chin and made me look him in the eye. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked gently. He moved his hand from my chin and grabbed my hand again.

"It's just…didn't you tell that same thing to Libby?"

He sighed. "Tori…Libby is in my past and you're my future. And…of course I told Libby I loved her. She was my wife, but…come on…you can't tell me honestly that you didn't love Caleb. That's why you stayed with him for as long as you did."

He was getting a little personal, but if we were gonna be together, I knew he would always be involved. So I nodded and said, "Yeah…I did love him."

"Okay," he said with a smile. "So…you know what I'm talking about. But…what I can tell you is this," He sighed heavily. "Tori…when we were together, I loved you. I thought that I could never love someone like that, but…I was wrong." My heart dropped, thinking he was talking about Libby. "Looking at you now…remembering the feeling I had last night…spending time with my son and your daughter this morning…I need you with me, Tori. I don't doubt that I did love you back when we were younger, but I think it was just puppy love. But…not now. Not even close. I really and truly love you with everything I have right now. And I will prove it to you. Words mean nothing unless they're shown in actions and I will show it to you. Just trust me."

That was it. Hearing those words, I was hooked to him forever.

I got up and ran to the living room and saw that Branson and Shayla had fallen asleep while watching cartoons. I ran back over to Andre, sat in his lap, and kissed him passionately. He had a tight grip around my waist. "Marry me, Andre," I whispered. "I know the man is supposed to ask the woman, but I don't care. I need to be with you and I'm not waiting on you to ask me."

He pushed my hair back and kissed my forehead. "Well then, my love…you won't have to wait much longer." He picked me up and sat my feet back on the ground. He knelt down and grabbed one of my hands. "Tori Vega…will you give me the privilege of being your husband?"

I giggled and said, "Well duh! There's no way in heck I could say no to you."

"I know, but I still had to ask." he said and immediately kissed me. It soon turned into making out and he pushed me against the wall, but in a very romantic way. I loved him so very much.

I agreed with Andre in what he said about us being in puppy love back when we were younger; I'm not gonna lie, I really did love him, but compared to how I felt about him now…it didn't even compare. He was my everything and I was determined to never let him go.

**Ugh, God, why? Why can't you give me a guy like Andre? Haha, but seriously, isn't he just perfect!? Gah, I love him!**


	30. Life Is Good

**Hope you guys enjoy this chapter! It's not very long, but it's cute :) and since this one is short, I'll update tomorrow!**

Tori's POV

In October, Beck and Jade welcomed their baby girl, Elizabeth Faith, into the world. Jade had a really long, drawn-out labor, so she was so relieved when Elizabeth was finally born. I got to meet her the day after she was born and she was so adorable. You could definitely tell that she was Beck's baby; she looked exactly like him! The way Jade looked at babies when we were younger was like she despised them, but as she looked at her own little baby, you could tell that she loved her so much. I knew she would be an amazing mother.

Andre and I got married the coming up December and because we had both eloped with our previous spouses, we decided to go all out and have a big white wedding with a lot of family and friends there. My matron of honor was Trina and my four bridesmaids were Andre's oldest sister Olivia, his younger sister Sophia, Cat, and Jade. The best man was a lifelong friend of Andre's named Jesse, and the groom's men were Robbie, Beck, and two of his cousins Jonathan and Levi. The two junior bridesmaids were Aly, Trina's daughter, and Amanda, Olivia's daughter. The junior groomsmen were Tanner, Trina's son, and Andy, Olivia's son (Amanda and Andy were twins, aged seven). The flower girl was Shayla and the ring bearer was Branson.

The color of the dress that all the girls wore was red, besides Shayla, who wore an elegant little white dress. In the pictures, it all looked gorgeous. What kind of clashed though was Cat's red velvet hair with the bold red dress, but it didn't really matter. She still looked nice. Everything about the wedding was perfect. My personal favorite part was repeating my vows to Andre and putting the ring on his finger. Then being announced husband and wife was phenomenal as well.

I've been to receptions where the bride is really stressed out or how you can't talk to her, because she walks to each table and takes a big group picture and then walks to the next table and so on and so forth. I personally think that that's the stupidest thing in the world. The reception is meant to be a time to kick back and relax. So that's how my reception was. Of course, Andre and I did the traditional reception stuff by feeding each other wedding cake, having the toast with champagne, and the throwing of the bouquet. But after all that was done, Andre and I split up and we simply mingled with the people that we wanted to mingle with. People congratulated me and told me what a beautiful wedding it was and I thanked them and I could have a nice conversation with them.

It was a magical day of celebration with family and friends. But then once Andre and I got back to our home, we had our own little private celebration which was, by far, my favorite part of the day. Thankfully, Andre's parents were keeping Branson and Shayla that night and would for the next week while Andre and I went on our honeymoon to the beautiful island of Hawaii.

Shayla bonded with Andre so well and I made the decision after we got back from our honeymoon that I wanted Andre to officially be her father, so the process of adoption began for Shayla to officially be his daughter. Normally, the biological dad would have to sign off on letting someone else adopt their child, but because of the words my mom said to him, I never heard from him again.

I talked it through with Andre, my parents, and even Jenna and Caleb's parents. I wanted to let them know that even though Caleb wouldn't legally be Shayla's father anymore, I still wanted Shayla to have her paternal aunt, uncle, cousins, and grandparents. It took them awhile to get used to the idea, but they agreed that it was for the best. They met Andre when I took him down to meet them a month before my wedding and they thought he was a great guy. I promised them that I would keep Shayla in their life and I was determined to keep that promise.

Exactly a month after Andre and I got married, I found out that I was pregnant. I had no idea how far along I was, but I knew I was at least two weeks since I found out I was pregnant from just a pregnancy test. I went to the doctor's and found out that I was a month along. They estimated that the baby was conceived on or around the twentieth of December (when we'd been on our honeymoon) based on what I told them, so they determined my due date being September 26th. I couldn't believe that I would have another little baby. Even though I had a good ways to go, I already couldn't wait to meet him or her.

**So, as you can see, this is just a little chapter updating on Andre and Tori's life. As you can tell, they are happy and they have a new baby on the way! Yay! Haha :)**

** Btw, what do you think of Andre becoming Shayla's dad? I wanna hear feedback! So please review! :)**


	31. Confrontations

**So, um…Libby is back in this chapter. Some parts of it you may like her, but others, I'm positive that you will despise her. Hope you enjoy!**

Tori's POV

Just two weeks after I found out I was pregnant, I finally got to meet Libby. I would have met her sooner, but it's usually never a good idea when the current wife and previous wife meet for the first time, but Andre thought that it was finally time to meet. And she was exactly the way Andre described her, looks and all. She finally recovered from being an alcoholic, so instead of being at a rehab center like she had been for the past six months or so, she was living in a small, nice little house while taking AA classes three times a week.

At first, Andre and Libby just talked small talk while Libby didn't even acknowledge I was there. I knew she knew I was there though, because she gave me a nod and a slight smile when Andre introduced me to her. That's all she did though. Looking at her now, I could tell she was Branson's mother. They looked alike. Speaking of which, Branson hadn't even been mentioned yet and I'm not sure why. That's how Andre and Libby were connected in the first place.

Finally, after ten minutes of sitting there and listening to Andre and Libby's mindless chatting, Libby cleared her throat and said, "So, Andre…how's Branson?"

I felt Andre stiffen up. "Oh, um…he's doing okay. Just…enjoying his day-to-day life…like any five-year-old should be doing."

"Hmm," said Libby. "Where is he right now?"

"He's with Tori's mother, along with Shayla."

"Wait, who's Shayla?" asked Libby confused.

"My daughter," I told her.

She raised her eyebrows. "You have a daughter?" I nodded. "How old is she?"

"Four," I said. "She'll be five in May."

"Ahh, nice. Branson will be six in May."

I nodded. "Yeah…I know."

"You know?" she asked me. "How do you know that?" I could see Andre from my peripheral vision and he was adverting his eyes from Libby and me nervously.

"Well…I've been around him a lot and, besides…Andre told me." I said and gulped. I was a little nervous now. I could tell that she didn't like me.

"Oh," she said. "And…what do you think of him?"

"Uh…I love him." I said honestly. I felt Andre stiffen up even more. "He's…he's only my step-son, but…I love him as if he is my own. He's a great kid and so adorable."

"Really?" she said, starting to get angry. "You love him as if he's your own? And how long have you known him? A few months?" She stood up and walked up to me. "You're his step-mother, not his real mother. I'm his real mother. You don't know my son, so don't act like you do."

"Libby–" started off Andre, but I interrupted him.

"No, Andre, let me say something." Even though I was talking to Andre, I was looking directly at Libby. I stood up and we were now face-to-face. "Okay, Libby…this is the reason why I waited so long to meet you. I knew that this would happen. I didn't wanna get into some kind of fight with my husband's ex-wife and it cause all these problems. And…I'm sorry, but…I've been around Branson almost every day for the past seven months. He knows me and I know him very well. Yeah, you might be his mother, but you sure haven't proven that you can take care of him–"

I knew that that wasn't a very smart thing to say, but I couldn't help it, which is why Libby reached out her hand and slapped me in the side of my face. This made a flashback run through my head.

_I couldn't finish talking because Caleb slapped me hard across the face. He wasn't done._

"Hey!" yelled Libby and pushed me back a little to get my attention. It didn't work. "I'm still talking to you. Why are you ignoring me?"

_ He pushed me against the wall and got just an inch from my face. I was about to slide down the wall, but he grabbed onto my shoulders tightly and wouldn't let me go. "Don't you ever…ever…talk to me in that tone of voice, do you understand me?"_

"Are you deaf?" screamed Libby.

_ I nodded, a little shaky, hoping he would take it as my apology, but he wasn't done with me then. He started punching me and kicking me. Just like it was every time he hurt me, there was nothing I could do but wait for it to end. It seemed like every punch radiated throughout my whole body. His hits affected me in ways that I didn't even understand._

I let out a shriek of pain, jumped up from the couch, and ran out of the house. I stood next to the door, slid down the wall, and cried in my hands. I couldn't believe that with just my husband's ex-wife hitting me would cause a flashback from my abusive ex-husband. I hated those flashbacks. I thought I was finally done with them, but I guess not.

….

Andre's POV

It took literally everything I had not to beat the crap out of Libby. Next to Libby hurting Branson, I had never been so angry. "Libby, what is your problem?" I yelled at her. "Tori has been through so much crap in her life and besides, she's pregnant! What kind of good did you think would come out of hitting her?"

"Andre, did you hear what she said to me?" she screeched. "She said that I can't take care of Branson! My own son! No one tells me that! I figured that hitting her would knock some sense into her!"

"What else is she supposed to think? All she knows is what I've told her." I said. "But that's not what we need to talk about right now. I gotta know…why did you just hit my wife?"

"Because she made me mad!" she exclaimed. "Why do you think I hit her?"

"Libby, do you have any idea what Tori has been through?" I asked. "She's been through more than you would ever know."

"So?" she said and crossed her arms. "She went through anorexia and that's not even that bad. She lived through it. I don't understand how that would cause her to sit there in stunned silence and then run out of the room crying!"

I gritted my teeth and had to take a few deep breaths to calm myself down. "Oh, my God…do you really not know what she went through? Besides the anorexia?"

"Apparently not or I would know," she said sarcastically.

I cleared my throat. "She was married before me to a man who was abusive. He would literally hit her, kick her, and do anything else he could think of to hurt her. She left him because he laid his hands on their daughter. There were bruises on her little girl for a while. I never saw them, because they were healed by the time I met her. Thank God I didn't, because it would have made me want to kill that man even more. During that moment that she was in a stunned silence, I can almost guarantee you that she was having a flashback. You can't even begin imagine how many flashbacks and nightmares she's had since she left him. So, Libby…if I were you…I would think before doing something that extreme next time. You may know Tori, but you most definitely don't know her story."

Libby's face expression changed as I shared this news to her. After I finished talking, Libby gulped and let out a long sigh. "I'm sorry, Andre. I…I didn't know."

"Yeah, obviously," I said. "But…I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."

"Okay, let's get one thing straight." said Libby. "Just because I know what her situation was doesn't mean that I like her any more. She still said that I can't take care of my son. I'm not apologizing to her."

I groaned loudly. "Oh, Libby, you are so immature." I turned to walk away, but Libby grabbed my wrist. I turned to her with a furious look on my face. "Get…your hand…off of me."

She let go and crossed her arms. "Let me just ask you a question. When can I see my son again?"

My heart started pounding hard. I knew she would ask me that. Even though I hoped that she could get her life together, I was enjoying my time with Branson. I wasn't ready to start sharing him between her. Sounds selfish, I know, but I was really protective of Branson. "Uh…well…I guess…it depends on what the court says."

Her eyes filled with tears. "Please, Andre…I made a mistake. I know I did. But…I can assure you that I love my son. I love him more than anything else in this world and…I haven't seen him in seven months. Please don't take him away from me. Don't do that to me; it would kill me if you did. I'm getting my life back together and I'm four months sober. I vow to never have a drink again. I would never want to hurt Branson again. I think about what I did that day and I hate myself because of it."

My heart beat calmed down a little bit. I knew Libby and I could tell that her words were sincere. I sighed and nodded. "I know. I'll call and see what I can do. Then…I'll get back to you, okay?"

She nodded. "Okay. Thanks, Andre."

"You're welcome." I said and sighed. "But…even if the court does say it's okay for you to see Branson again, it'll take a while for me to gain your trust. The last time you were left alone with our son, he got hurt. I know you say you regret it and I believe you. It's just…it's gonna have to take some time. Okay?"

She bit her lip and nodded. "Okay," she said quietly.

I cleared my throat. "But…talking about Tori…don't you ever hit her again. Alright?"

She shrugged. "I can't promise you that."

I groaned. "Libby, please don't. You and Tori may never be friends, but I would like for you two to at least remain civil. It's not a competition."

"Fine," she said. "But if she won't cooperate, then I'm not. It goes both ways, you know."

"I know." I said. "I'll talk to her about it. But like I said before, she doesn't know you like I do. All she knows is that you let Branson get hurt and didn't do anything about it."

She closed her eyes, let out a long sigh, and opened her eyes. "When will you ever forget about that?"

"You know, Libby, I'd like to, but it's kind of impossible, because whenever I look at him, I see the scar on his forehead." I told her. "He had to get five stitches because of what happened."

Her eyes widened. "Is it really that prominent?"

"Not really, but you can still see it. I see him all the time and I know that it's there, so it's easier for me to see."

She nodded, looking down at the floor.

"Well…I gotta go." I said and walked up to the door and turned back to her. "I promise I'll call when I know something."

"Thank you,"

I softly smiled and opened the door and went outside, closing the door behind me. I looked next to me and saw that Tori was sitting on the ground crying into her hands. I sighed shakily and walked over to her and bent down. I rubbed my hand on her back and said, "It's okay, baby. Libby feels bad about it."

She took her hands away from her face and wiped her eyes and cheeks. "It doesn't take back what she did."

"I know," I said and sat down next to her. I wrapped an arm around her and she laid her head on my shoulder. I rested my cheek on the top of her head. "I'm really sorry, sweetheart." I hated that Tori had to deal with all those flashbacks and nightmares because of Caleb.

She sighed heavily. "Can we just go home? I wanna see our babies."

I smiled and nodded. "Of course we can," I stood up and then held my hand out for Tori to grab it. She smiled up at me and grabbed it and I pulled her up. "No matter what happens, Tori…you will always be my one and only love."

She smiled. "I love you."

"I love you, too." I said and leaned in to kiss her on the forehead. "Okay, let's go."

She nodded and we headed to the car and drove off. We got to our house and thanked Tori's mom for watching the kids. She said she was happy to do it and she left. After she left, Branson said, "Where did you go?"

Tori and I glanced at each other. I shook my head as a way of saying that we shouldn't tell him. I looked back at Branson and said, "Just…to take care of a few things."

He nodded and didn't carry on the conversation anymore.

Once Tori and I got some privacy, I talked to her about what she had said to Libby and told her that it was probably a little harsh to say and she agreed with me. She felt bad for saying it; she told me that it just kind of slipped out. I told her that I wanted her and Libby to get along best they could and she told me she would try her hardest. She didn't particularly like Libby and I couldn't blame her.


	32. Forgiveness

**So…my friend is literally begging me right now to update. So I have to update now or she will go mentally insane. So…yeah, haha! Here's the next chapter. Enjoy! :)**

Andre's POV

The adoption process for me to adopt Shayla was taking a long time, but it was okay, because she was treating me like I was her dad and I was treating her like she was my daughter. The only thing was that Shayla wasn't calling me "Dad" and Tori wasn't sure if she ever would. I hoped she would, but since she was old enough to remember what her biological dad did to her, it would be hard to call me her father now. Tori and I talked to her about it and she understood, but she wasn't calling me "Dad;" I was just Andre.

A couple days after my confrontation with Libby, I made some calls and asked if it was possible for her to see Branson again. They were a little hesitant, but they knew that Libby wanted to see her son again. Libby would have to prove that she wouldn't hurt him ever again. So along with the AA classes she was going to, she started going to a therapist, just to get a little extra help. She told me that it didn't matter what any therapist said to her; she already made a promise to herself that she wouldn't hurt Branson. Her main issue was keeping herself sober and it was getting easier and easier to do.

Once it got to April, Libby proved that she wouldn't hurt Branson and she was allowed to see him again. The only thing was that for that first confrontation, I would have to be there. It wasn't a choice; it was the law. Even though they could now see each other, they couldn't be alone. Someone had to be there at all times.

Finally, I decided when would be a good time for Libby and Branson to reunite. Branson's sixth birthday was on the tenth of May and I figured that that would be a great day to do it. At this point, it had been almost a year since Libby had seen Branson. I knew she was itching to see him. I just had to make sure it was safe. I'd never in a million years want Branson to go through the kind of pain he received before.

After I called Libby and told her the plan, I went up to Branson's room and sat on his bed. "Hey buddy,"

"Hey, Daddy," he said.

I cleared his throat. "Um…can I talk to you?" I patted the spot next to me.

"Uh huh," He got up from the floor and plopped next to me. He looked at me and I could tell that I had his full attention.

"Okay, so…you know how you turn six next week?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I'm so excited!"

"Well…I had an idea of something we could do for your birthday, but I wanted to talk to you about it first." I said. "But if you feel uncomfortable with it, we don't have to do it. It's up to you." In the end, it didn't matter what anyone said; it was Branson's decision ultimately. If he didn't want to see his mom, he wouldn't have to see her. I would not let anyone force him.

He smiled widely. "What are we gonna do?"

I sighed heavily. Here goes nothing. "Well, Branson…how would you feel about seeing Mama again?"

His eyes widened and his jaw dropped slightly. He breathed a little unsteadily for a moment before saying, "But…but I thought that I wasn't allowed to see Mama."

"You weren't at first, but it's allowed now." I said. "Your mom is getting her life in order and she wants to see you again."

"Will she hurt me again?"

"No," he said. "No way. I'll make sure of it."

He nodded. "Okay. Because…I wanna see Mama, but not if she's gonna hurt me." He looked off, thinking for a moment before looking at me. "Would Mama ever hit me?"

I looked at him shocked. "No, Branson. Why would you think that?"

He looked down at the ground. "I don't think she will, but…" He looked up at me. "Shayla didn't think her daddy would either. Her daddy hit her badly one time and Shayla brings it up all the time. And…she cries every time she talks about it."

My heart broke hearing his words. I already wanted to murder Caleb and hearing my son say this, I wanted to murder him even more. I already loved Shayla like she was my own daughter. "Oh, my God," I whispered. "Branson…that's…that's different. Your mom would not do that to you. I promise she won't." I gulped. "How often does Shayla talk about it?"

He shrugged. "Not as much as she used to it."

"How often? Be specific, Branson,"

He had to think about it for a moment, but then he finally said, "Used to…it would be like once every two weeks or so. But now, maybe only once a month."

I made a mental note to talk to Tori about this. "Well…thanks for telling me. I needed to know that."

He nodded, but didn't say anything else.

I cleared my throat. "So…what do you think? Would you like to see your mom again?"

He thought about it for a minute and then nodded. "Yeah. I do. I miss her."

I softly smiled. "Well then," I started off. "I will make sure that you get to see her very soon."

Right after I called Libby and told her the plan, I talked to Tori about what Branson told me about Shayla. Since she was pregnant, her emotions were running wild, so she started crying. Once she recovered, she said that she would talk to Shayla about it.

On May tenth, my baby boy turned six years old. I still couldn't believe how big he was getting. I just knew that he would be one of the smartest kids in his class; he was in kindergarten that year and his teacher said that he was one of the smartest kids she'd ever met. And he really was and I'm not just saying that because I'm his dad. His teacher said that he was wise beyond his years and some of the things he talked about in class amazed her. He had so much knowledge on things that you wouldn't believe.

At 3:00, Branson and I got in the car and drove to Libby's house. Just before we left, Tori had a little breakdown; she started crying and her reason for crying was, and I quote, "You've been talking to Libby so much lately and…I don't know. I'm just…I'm nervous."

I had grabbed her face and kissed her passionately. "Baby, you have nothing to worry about." I said when we pulled apart. "There is no one else I'd rather be with. It's just like what my song says…baby, you light up my world like nobody else. It was true then and it's true now."

She smiled and looked down at her almost five-month-pregnant belly and rubbed her hands on it. "I looked a little different back then than I do now."

"Yeah, but you're still drop dead gorgeous." I bent down and put my hands on her stomach. "Hey in there," I whispered. Tori and I had decided that we wanted to be surprised in the gender of our baby, so I didn't know if I was talking to my baby girl or my baby boy. "I can't wait to meet you. And I know your mommy can't wait to meet you either. Stay healthy." I kissed her stomach and then stood up.

Tori and I said bye and that's when Branson and I left.

Branson was super quiet all the way to Libby's house. I would occasionally take a glimpse at him in my rear view mirror and he was looking out the window and he had a very questionable look on his face. I couldn't tell what he was thinking at all.

When we got to Libby's house, I turned the car off and said, "Well…here we are." I got out of the car and went around to the other side. I opened the back door for Branson to get out, but it took him awhile.

As I closed the door, I said, "Hey, buddy, you okay?"

He gulped and slowly nodded. "Yeah…I'm so nervous."

"Hey, it'll be okay," I told him and rubbed my hand over the back of his head. "I'm not gonna leave your side for even a second, okay? I'll be right here with you the whole time."

Just then, the door to the house opened and I saw Libby. Branson let out a squeal and immediately turned around and wrapped his arms around me. "Don't leave me, Daddy. Please don't."

I bent down and he wrapped his arms around me in a steel grip. I wrapped my arms tightly around him and kissed his temple. "It's alright. I've got you." I picked him up and held him in my arms. "I promise I'm not leaving you."

Branson had his face hidden in my shoulder as I walked up the porch and over to Libby. "Hi Libby." I said.

She gently smiled at me. "Hey," She opened the door wider and I walked in and sat down on the couch. I rearranged Branson in my lap with his head resting against my right shoulder. I kept a firm grip around him and he kept an arm around me. Libby pulled up a small chair and sat it in front of Branson and me. "Well…what have you been up to?"

I cleared my throat. "Oh…nothing, really. Just…day to day life. And you?"

"Same…doing well," She looked at Branson. "Well…it looks like our son has sure grown up."

"Oh…yeah," I said as I rubbed my right hand over the top of his head. I kissed the top of his head and said, "He's getting big."

She smiled and nodded. "Hey Branson,"

I could feel him tense up in my arms. He slowly turned to Libby and kept a straight face while saying, "Hi,"

She got out of the chair and got on her knees, so she could be more on his level. "Can you come a little closer?" she asked in the sweetest voice I'd ever heard from her and it was sincere. I could tell she really wanted to get close to her son again.

Branson shook a little and looked up at me. He didn't have to say anything, but I could see that he was terrified by the look in his eyes. "It's alright." I whispered and kissed his forehead. "You're okay. I'm here."

He sighed and then slowly looked at Libby again. Then he got off of my lap, but kept a hand on my lap, gripping my jeans. I'd never seen Branson this scared. "Hi," he repeated.

She smiled a gentle smile. "Can you come a little closer? I'm not gonna hurt you."

He took a step closer, but still kept a hand on my leg. "How do I know that?"

Libby bit her lip and sighed shakily. "I…you're…well, you're just gonna have to trust me." She slowly and gingerly grabbed one of his hands. Branson let out a little squeal, but nevertheless let his mom hold onto his hand. She slowly grabbed his other hand, so she could hold onto both of them while looking him right in the eyes. "Listen to me, baby…I love you more than anything else in this world. And…to not see you for this long has killed me. It's absolutely killed me. But…what has killed me even more is remembering what happened to you last summer." She let go of one of his hands and gently rubbed her thumb over the scar on his forehead. "I think about what I let happen to you every day and…I regret it more than anything in this world. I would never hurt you again." Libby stopped talking. Branson was just looking at her, not showing any emotion whatsoever. "Branson…I'm so sorry."

As it turned out, the words she said before meant nothing to Branson. But it was the words "I'm so sorry" that did it. He started crying and collapsed in her lap. Libby wrapped her arms around him and started crying as well. Libby looked at me and mouthed the words, "Thank you."

I smiled and gave her a nod.


	33. Touchy Subject

**Do you guys remember a song that Tori wrote for Shayla earlier in the story? She couldn't finish the song at that time, but she finishes it here! It's called "Never Grow Up" and it's by Taylor Swift, so I (obviously) don't own it.**

**By the way, I had to change one of the lyrics from the song to make it fit for this story. So if you notice any difference, well then that's probably why. Haha.**

**Nonetheless, enjoy the chapter! Really cute moment between Tori and Shayla :) (P.S. Andre and Tori's baby will be born next chapter!) :)**

Tori's POV

After a busy day of working on my book and talking to people about my foundation, I thought of something from a long time ago: a song that I'd written for Shayla titled "Never Grow Up." I hadn't finished it, but I think I could finally finish it now. I wasn't busy with anything else; Shayla was taking a nap because she had a cold while Andre and Branson were over at Libby's house. So since I had nothing else to do, I got out of bed, got the piece of paper with the lyrics on it, got back in bed, and finished writing the song.

_Take pictures in your mind of your childhood room_

_ Memorize what it sounded like when your dad gets home_

_ Remember the footsteps, remember the words said_

_ And all your bigger brother's favorite songs_

_ I just realized everything I have is someday gonna be gone_

_ So here I am in my new apartment in a big city_

_They just dropped me off_

_It's so much colder than I thought it would be_

_So I tucked myself in_

_And turned my nightlight on_

_I wish I'd never grown up_

_I wish I'd never grown up_

_Oh, I don't wanna grow up_

_Wish I'd never grown up_

_I could still be little_

_Oh, I don't wanna grow up_

_Wish I'd never grown up_

_It could still be simple_

_Oh, darling, don't you ever grow up_

_Don't you ever grow up_

_Just stay this little_

_Oh, darling, don't you ever grow up_

_Don't you ever grow up_

_It could stay this simple_

_I won't let nobody hurt you_

_Won't let no one break your heart_

_And even though you want to_

_Please try to never grow up_

_Oooh, whooa, don't you ever grow up_

_Oh whoa, just never grow up_

I read through the lyrics of the whole song and couldn't help but think that part of it wasn't true anymore. The line "And no one's ever burned you; nothing's ever left you scarred" was wrong. When I wrote that line, it was before Caleb hurt her. I knew she was scarred from what he did to her. I knew it for a fact, because Andre told me that Shayla had been telling Branson about it and that she cried every time she mentioned it. It broke my heart hearing those words, because she never talked about it with me. I still hadn't talked to her about it, because there was never a right time.

Just then, I heard a light knock on my door. I smiled and said gently, "It's open,"

The door opened and in walked Shayla. "Hi Mommy," she said; she sounded really stuffy. Then she got a weird look on her face and a moment later, she sneezed. She sneezed two more times after that.

"Aw, bless you, sweetie," I said

She groaned and said, "Mommy, I hate sneezing." She ran over to my bedside and got in bed with me.

I kissed the top of her head. "I know, baby. It'll get better. Just give it a week or so and you'll feel a lot better."

She nodded and then got comfortable next to me. She looked down at my stomach and then touched my stomach. "Mommy?"

"Yeah?"

"When will baby come?"

I smiled. "Oh, it'll be awhile."

"How long?"

"About four months," I told her.

"Oh," she said. "Do you want a girl or a boy?"

I giggled. "I don't care what I have. I just want a healthy baby."

"Me too," she said with a smile. "I want a healthy baby brother or sister."

I nodded and smiled, but didn't say anything. Shayla was such an amazing little girl; even though she didn't feel good, she still had a good attitude. Most adults aren't even like that. I was very lucky.

After five minutes of silence, besides Shayla's sneezing, I finally brought up a sensitive topic. I hated to bring it up, but I needed to talk to Shayla about it and now was the perfect time. "Shayla? Can I talk to you about something?"

"Uh huh," she said and looked up at me. The look in her eyes told me that I had her full attention.

I sighed shakily. "Okay, well…Andre was talking to me and…he found out from Branson that you've been talking to him a lot about…"

I didn't have to finish my sentence for her to know who I was talking about. "My old daddy?"

I nodded. She may not be calling Andre dad yet, but she was already calling Caleb her old daddy. "Yeah and…how he hurt you that one time."

She looked at the ground. "I'm sorry, Mommy. Branson is my best friend. I don't know who else to talk to about it with. He understands."

I ran my hand over the back of her hair. "Baby, I'm here. You can always come talk to me."

She looked up at me with tears in her eyes. "No, I can't. Whenever someone mentions him or when Andre brings him up, you get really sad. I don't wanna upset you anymore or make you cry."

It was a struggle not to cry at her words. "Oh, sweetie," I said and gave her a hug. I kissed the top of her head and said, "I'm so sorry. Listen, honey…you can always talk to me, okay? About anything. You shouldn't have to keep it bottled inside of you."

"But…doesn't talking about him make you sad?"

"Of course it does," I said with honesty. I couldn't lie to her. "But if you ever wanna talk about him or about how what he did made you feel, you can always talk to me or even Andre about it. We'd both be happy to talk to you about anything you need to talk about. I don't want you feeling sad about anything, honey. I love you so much and only want what's best for you."

She smiled. "Thanks, Mommy," Then she gave me a big hug and I hugged her back.

A few minutes later, I heard the door open and Andre call out, "We're home!"

I gasped and looked at Shayla. "Shayla, they're home!"

"Yay!" she exclaimed and we both got up and headed out of the bedroom and into the kitchen where Andre and Branson were. The only reason they were in the kitchen was because the door to the garage leads to a hallway and at the end of the hallway is the kitchen. Our house isn't huge, but it's really homey and kid friendly. It was the perfect house to raise our family.

Shayla ran up to Branson and they hugged tightly. Then they ran out of the kitchen and ran up the stairs to his room. Andre and I followed our eyes and watched them until the door shut behind them. I giggled and looked at Andre. "Wow, they're strange kids."

He nodded. "Yeah, I'd say so." He walked up to me and gave me a kiss. "How has it been with you and Shayla?"

"It's been fine." I told him. "I talked to her about what she had been talking about with Branson. You know, Caleb hurting her…"

"Oh yeah," he said with realization. "How did that go?"

"It went fine. She said that Branson is her best friend and he understands her. The only reason she doesn't wanna talk to me about it is because she doesn't wanna upset me by mentioning him."

"Aww, what a sweetheart," he said with a smile.

"Yeah, she is," I said. "But I told her that if she ever wanted to talk to me about it, she could."

He nodded. "That's good. Well, I'm glad that you finally got to have that conversation with her."

"Yeah, me too," I said and sighed. "So how did it go with Libby?"

"You know…it actually went really well," he told me. "At first, Branson stuck to me like glue; he was really apprehensive. But then once Libby started talking to him, he got a little better. It wasn't until Libby apologized to Branson that things really got better. He collapsed into her arms and just cried his eyes out. He was so happy to see his mom again. You could tell that they missed each other."

"Aww," I said with a smile. "How sweet. What did you guys do after that?"

"Well, Libby had some presents for Branson and he had fun playing with those." he said. "I left them at her house, so that he'll have stuff to play with next time he goes over there."

I nodded. "So I guess you trust her again?"

"Not completely, but it's getting better." he said after a moment of hesitation. "It'll take a long time before I have complete trust for her, which is why it'll be awhile before I can leave Branson with her alone. Besides, the law says that he can't stay with her…not for the time being anyway."

"Yeah, that's true," he said. "So I guess you'll just take him over to her house every once in a while?"

"Yeah, we discussed it and decided that I would take him over there two times a week for an hour each. It's not much, but it's better than nothing."

"Just as long as the court is okay with it." I reminded him.

"Oh, I think they'll be okay with it." he said. "Their only concern is Libby and Branson being together by themselves, but I won't let that happen until they say it's okay and until my trust for her is at one hundred percent."

"Understandable," I said.

"Yeah," he said and walked up to me and placed his arms around my waist. I smiled as he moved his hands around and placed them on my stomach. "So on to another subject, how do you and our baby feel?"

I giggled. "I feel fine and I'm guessing our baby feels okay." I moved my hands and put them over Andre's hands, which were still over my stomach. "He or she has been kicking like normal." Since I was just barely under five months, it wasn't crazy kicking yet, but I could still feel an occasional kick.

He smiled and shook his head. "Aww," he said and then got on his knees. He kissed my stomach and then said, "I just cannot wait to meet our precious little baby boy or girl." Then he stood up. "What do you think is in there? A boy or a girl?"

"Hmm," I said and rubbed my hands up and down on my stomach. "I honestly have no idea. But whatever it is, I'll be happy just as long as the baby is healthy."

"Agreed," he said. "Even though we don't know the gender of our baby, we can start thinking about names. Like if it's a girl, we have a name picked out or if it's a boy, we have a name picked out."

"You know, that's what Caleb and I did for Shayla." I told him. "We had the name Shayla picked out if it was a girl and the name Gabriel picked out if it was a boy."

He looked at me in silence for a moment and then slowly smiled. "Perfect. If it's a boy, his name can be Gabriel. What do you say?"

I smiled and nodded. "I say it's a winner."

"Great," he said and gave me a kiss. "But you know, me and Libby did the same thing for Branson. If Branson had been girl, the name would have been Aubrey."

I giggled. "Perfect. If we have a girl, her name will be Aubrey."

He laughed loudly. "Well, that wasn't very hard, was it?"

I laughed, agreeing with him. Usually picking baby names is hard, but thank goodness all that work was already done! Now all we had to do was anxiously wait for our baby to get here.


	34. Unexpected Miracle

**Yay! Andre and Tori's baby is born this chapter! Is it a boy or a girl? Hmm…keep reading to find out :)**

**P.S. PLEASE REVIEW! :D**

Tori's POV

After a lot of discussing with Andre, I decided that I wanted to have my baby at home and Andre agreed with me. It wasn't that I had a bad experience at the hospital having Shayla, because I didn't; the doctors and nurses were fantastic. I just felt that having my baby in the comfort of my own home with only a few people around me would be what's best. My only concern was the amount of pain I would go through. When I had Shayla, I had an epidural, so I virtually felt nothing compared to what some ladies go through. I talked that over with Andre and he said that Libby had had Branson without any pain meds and she made it through just fine. He said the most important thing is to try and remain calm and focus on breathing the right way, which is why I was taking Lamaze classes.

When I was seven months along, my doctor changed my due date from September twenty-sixth to September thirteenth. I got really excited when I received this news, because it meant that I would hold my baby boy or girl in my arms that much sooner. I got more and more antsy each day.

Even though I was due on the thirteenth of September, my baby was having none of that. When that baby was ready, it came whether I wanted it to or not.

I went to bed on the night of September tenth just like normal. My belly was enormous and I felt like I was gonna pop. I wobbled wherever I went and I had to pee constantly. The baby was always kicking me in the bladder and it was so annoying. The only thing that comforted me was knowing that I only had a little bit longer to deal with this.

It took me forever to fall asleep that night, because I couldn't get comfortable. I was tossing and turning so much that I knew I was keeping Andre up. At about eleven, Andre turned to me and said, "Babe, are you okay?"

I groaned and nodded. "I'm fine, just can't get comfortable."

"Aww, I'm sorry," he said sympathetically. "Want me to stay awake with you?"

"No, it's okay," I told him. "I'm so tired and I don't wanna keep you up, because you're probably tired as well." I let out a long yawn. "I'm sure I'll go to sleep soon."

He eyed me for a moment, but then sighed and said, "Okay. Nighty night," He leaned over and kissed my forehead. Then he turned over and went back to sleep.

I let out a sigh myself and turned over and attempted to go back to sleep.

It worked and I actually got an hour or so of sleep, but I was woken up at about twelve-thirty by an oddly familiar feeling in my abdomen. It was hardening and tightening and even some cramping. I groaned loudly. No! Not yet, baby, not yet. My midwife, Jennifer, was on vacation and wouldn't be back until the next day. If she's gone, there would be no one to help me give birth to my baby. Of course, I had Andre, but he only knew about as much as I did, which wasn't a whole lot. Jennifer had originally planned to stay on her vacation for another day, but she decided to come home a day early just in case I went into labor early. Well, she was off by a day.

I laid there and tried to deal with the contractions by myself for about thirty minutes, but then they really started to hit me hard and caused me an immense amount of pain. I could already tell that this would be a fast labor, which was good and bad.

At exactly one, after a really rough contraction, I woke up Andre. It took me a minute of shaking and calling out his name to get him to wake up, but he finally did. The second I told him what was going on, he went into full time panic mode. "What?" he exclaimed and then leaned over to turn the lamp on. "No! You can't be in labor right now! We're not ready yet!"

My eyes filled with tears. "Andre, don't yell me." I told him shakily. I knew he didn't mean to yell, but my emotions were just really sensitive. "It's not like I decided this–" I couldn't continue my sentence, because a contraction hit me. My eyes bugged out and I laid back on the pillow. I let out a long moan and mumbled, "Andre…oh, my gosh, Andre…this hurts."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, baby." He leaned over and kissed me on the forehead. "I'm so sorry. We'll make do."

"How?" I mumbled. I let out another long moan. Andre ran his hand across my forehead. "We'll be…all by ourselves,"

"Hey, we'll be fine," he said gently. "We've had some experience in the past and I'm sure we'll know what to do when the time comes." I simply stared at him with tears running down my cheeks. I didn't know what else to do. "We have no other choice." He caressed my cheek. "We can do this, Tori, I know we can." He was quiet for a moment before saying, "Unless you wanna go to the hospital to have this baby."

"No," I said. "No way. I'm having…my baby here." I let out another long groan. "We can…go the hospital after the baby is born, but…I'm not giving birth…at the hospital. Our baby…will be born…in this house. I'll do whatever…it takes."

After that, things were in full swing. We didn't know how long I would be in labor before I gave birth to the baby, so I told Andre to call my parents to come to the house, so they could be here if Branson or Shayla woke up. Some parents like to have their kids in the room when their new baby is born, but for me personally, I think that's the stupidest thing in the world. Child birth is really graphic and I figured there was no reason for a six-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl to be in the room. They could be in there before and after, but not during.

Once my parents were called, they hurried to the house and made themselves comfortable in the living room. They would visit me in the bedroom ever so often to check on me and see how I was doing, but they mainly stayed in the living room and rested. Andre told them that if Branson or Shayla wakes up to explain to them what was going on.

After my parents showed up, Andre made a quick phone call to Jennifer. Just like we suspected, she didn't pick up since it was in fact in the middle of the night. He simply left a voicemail and explained what was going on.

Andre was an amazing coach during the labor, even better than Caleb was and I gotta admit that he was great as well. Andre just seemed calmer about it and seemed to have more knowledge than Caleb did. He really knew how to keep me as relaxed as possible. Of course, the contractions still hurt really badly and so Andre would massage wherever I asked him to.

At a little after three in the morning, I heard a knock on our bedroom door. Andre got up and opened it. I heard my dad say, "We have an early riser who wants to visit you guys." I was lying down, so I couldn't tell who it was.

"Well, come on in," Andre said and then he walked over to me. I looked up and saw that he was holding Branson. At this point, Andre was still taking Branson to Libby's house for a visit two times a week for two hours each. He said that his trust for her was getting more and more each time and he was really close to fully trusting her, but not quite yet.

I smiled up at them. "Hey, you two,"

"Hi Tori." said Branson in a tiny voice. "Is the baby coming?"

I softly smiled and said, "Yeah, buddy, he is," Andre set Branson down on the bed with me so we could talk more on the same level. "Your baby brother or sister will be here very soon."

He smiled widely. "I hope it's a boy."

Andre and I both giggled. "Why is that?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I don't know. I already have a sister and I think it would be cool to have a brother now. But if it is a girl, I'll still be happy."

"Aww, that's sweet, Branson." I said. I thought it was really cute how he was referring to Shayla as his sister. They were only step siblings now, but they would be almost like half siblings once the adoption process for Andre to become Shayla's dad was final.

He nodded. "I just want the baby to be healthy."

I smiled at him. "Me too," I was about to say something else, but a contraction hit me, which meant I was forced to lean back against the pillow and just focus on my breathing.

I vaguely heard Andre tell Branson that I would be okay and then he had him go back to my parents and told him to just go back to sleep. He told him that, hopefully, the next time he woke up, he would have a new baby brother or sister. I hoped so as well. I was just ready for this baby to be born already.

At around five in the morning, I knew for a fact that my baby was ready to be born. I had no idea how far dilated I was, but it didn't matter; I was ready to get this baby out like right now. I told Andre and he asked me where I wanted to be to have the baby. It took me about a second to say, "On the floor," I wanted to get on my hands and knees, because I knew that with that way, gravity would help get my baby out.

He raised his eyebrows. "On the floor? Don't you think it would be more comfortable on the bed?"

I shook my head. "No," I mumbled. "Please, just set up a place for me on the floor, so I can have this baby already." I let out a long groan and tried so hard to resist the urge to push. It was getting stronger and stronger the longer I waited. "Before I have this baby right here,"

He nodded, a little nervous, and then began to make a place for me on the ground. In reality, it took him about two minutes, but it felt like an eternity before I was able to get on the ground. Once I was on the ground all ready, I pushed.

After a very tiring and long thirty minutes, my baby was finally born. I caught my baby before he or she could hit the floor and I pulled my baby's tiny little body up to my chest. I immediately started crying. "Oh, my God, Andre…oh, my God," I said in between sobs. "Grab a towel, please,"

Andre immediately grabbed a towel and helped me wrap the baby in it. I started to wipe the gunk off of him or her and pat his or her back (I still wasn't sure if it was a boy or girl yet). Just seconds after I began to pat the baby's back, the crying started and it was the most beautiful sound in the entire world. "Andre, we did it." I said, without looking up at him.

"All by ourselves," he said and leaned forward and kissed my forehead. Then he said, "How about we check and see if we've got a boy or a girl here?"

I nodded and pulled the baby away from me momentarily. One look and you could tell what it was. I smiled widely and said, "It's a boy." I slowly looked up at Andre and smiled. "We have a precious baby boy, Andre."

He smiled widely. "Gabriel Christopher Harris,"

I let out a giggle and leaned down and kissed his forehead. "Perfect," I slowly shook my head in amazement. "Absolutely perfect," I already loved Gabriel with all of my heart.

….

I didn't wanna have to go to the hospital afterwards, but I had to so Gabriel could be checked out. My parents stayed at home just in case Branson or Shayla woke up. I had Gabriel at exactly 5:32, so it was still really early. But when I got to the hospital, they wanted me to stay there for the rest of the day just so they could observe me and Gabriel to make sure everything was fine and it was.

At 8:30 that morning, while I was simply sitting up in my hospital bed holding my baby with Andre right next to me, I heard a knock on the door. Andre got up to answer it and when he opened the door, Branson and Shayla came running in. I smiled and said, "Hey, you two," I looked down at Gabriel, whom was currently awake and fluttering his eyes. "Look who snuck up on us?"

Andre picked both of them up and sat them on the bed so that they could have a closer look at their baby brother. "When did you have him, Mama?" asked Shayla.

"Really early this morning while you and Branson were sleeping," I told her. "You two had no idea."

"But I knew he was coming!" said Branson raising his hand.

Andre and I both giggled. "Yes, you did, buddy." I said and looked back down at Gabriel and we all remained silent while just staring down at him.

"Mama?" asked Shayla after a moment of silence.

I looked up at her. "Yeah, baby?"

"What's his name?" she asked. I forgot that I hadn't told Branson or Shayla what the names of the baby would be if it was a boy or a girl.

I smiled at her. "Gabriel Christopher Harris,"

She slowly nodded and then furrowed her eyebrows. I knew my daughter and I knew that when she did that, she didn't like something. I wasn't offended at all; I mean, she is only five. "Do you not like that name?" I asked gently.

"No, I do, it's just…um…can we call him Gabe?" she asked. "It's shorter and easier to say."

I slowly smiled and then looked down at my baby. After another moment, I looked up at Andre and I raised my eyebrows. He smiled and nodded his head, agreeing with me. I looked back at Shayla and said, "Of course we can. That can be his nickname."

That was the day we started calling him Gabe and we can always think his big sister Shayla for giving him that name.


	35. Fearless

**The way this chapter ends will make it seem like the story is over, but it's not! There are more chapters to come! Not a whole lot more, but still more! :)**

**Disclaimer: the song that Tori is talking about, Fearless, is by Taylor Swift and well, obviously I don't own it.**

Tori's POV

It took another good six months for me to finish my book and once it was finished, it was sent in for editing and almost immediately published. I swear, it was like I became famous overnight. People everywhere were buying my book and I was reading comments online that so many people really enjoyed it. Since I gave my full struggles of anorexia and my abusive relationship with Caleb, there was a lot of information covered in the book and so it hit home for a bunch of people and that's one of the main reasons why it was so successful.

Around the same time my book was released, I released a music album that included 13 songs on them. The first ten songs were ones that I had already recorded, but I had 3 other songs that would be good on it.

The first one was "Never Grow Up" which had been written about Shayla. It felt so good to finally record it in a studio. Even though Shayla was only five when I told her it was written for her, she still understood and after hearing the song, she cried. She thought it was really beautiful.

The other two songs were both Andre. One was a ballad and the other had a sort of country style to it, but it was a great song and it was called "Fearless." It basically talked about how it was when we first got together, so it was good to go down memory lane a little bit.

So those three and the other 10 songs I recorded over a year ago were all on my full album. I got asked a lot which song was my favorite, but to tell you the truth, I didn't have a favorite. Each one had a special meaning and there was a story behind each song. But I did have to pick one song that would be the title of the album. After much debating with myself, I decided to use "Fearless." There wasn't really an explanation behind it; I just liked that word. Fearless just sounds like you can do anything in the world. The people that were helping me release the album thought that "Fearless" was a great title as well, so everything was perfect.

Believe it or not, but the proceeds from my book and album was enough money to help build the building for my rehab center, Every Girl is Beautiful Rehabilitation Center, and also towards my new foundation, Every Girl is Beautiful – Hope for Girls with Eating Disorders. My main slogan was, "Every Girl is Beautiful," because it's true. Every single girl was beautiful in their own way. It was society that was ugly. They judged girls because of their bodies and it destroyed their self-esteem. For my job, I worked with my foundation and I was waiting for the rehab center to be completed. Once it would be completed, I would begin working there and helping girls get over their eating disorders. In the meantime, I was busy with publicity events dealing with my book and album. Sometimes I would be gone days at a time, but I tried my hardest to not be gone longer than three days. After all, I had a husband and kids at home that needed me.

Andre got a huge shock on Shayla's seventh birthday. We had a big birthday party with all of Shayla's friends and there was a big cake and a lot of presents, but Shayla would have been happy with the littlest party. She was just that kind of girl. The best part of the party was by far after she opened up the gift that Andre gave her.

After she opened the gift, she looked up at Andre and slowly smiled. "Well…what do you think?" he asked. It was a baby doll that she had had her eye for a month or so now.

She smiled wider and nodded. "I love it." She leaned over and gave him a big hug. "Thank you so much."

"I love you so much, Shayla." said Andre when they pulled apart.

Shayla simply looked at him for a moment and then said, "I love you too, Daddy."

I wasn't fully paying attention, but once I heard Shayla say Daddy, I turned my head and looked at Andre and Shayla. Shayla was hugging Andre and Andre had the most shocked expression on his face. I couldn't help but let a few tears escape from my eyes. Even Andre had tears in his eyes. I smiled at Andre and he smiled at me. So many emotions in the little smile that we both shared with each other.

By this point, he was officially his daughter, even legally, so it was fitting that she finally call him her dad.

I pretty much had the perfect life, the perfect family, and perfect job. I didn't think that life could get any better, but guess what? It did! In December, when Branson was nine, Shayla was eight, and Gabe was three, I gave birth to a precious little baby girl, whom Andre and I named Aubrey Renee Harris. She was the perfect baby. The only times she cried were when she was hungry, needed a diaper changed, or if she was sick and she wasn't sick that often. By this time, my rehab center had opened up and quickly got busy. I was done with publicity stuff, so I began working there from eight in the morning until five in the evening. I enjoyed helping girls every day.

I felt very grateful about everything in my life.


	36. Huge Mistake

**You might be surprised with what happens in this chapter…**

** Don't forget to review!**

Tori's POV

Even though I had a life out in LA, I wanted Shayla to stay in contact with Caleb's side of the family, because they were some of the greatest people I knew. So every few months, Andre and I would pack up and take the kids up to New York for four or five days. We brought Branson most of the time, but sometimes, he would be with Libby. When Branson was seven, Libby was officially allowed to be with Branson alone again and Branson was perfectly okay with that. But he only stayed with Libby every other weekend. It took a long time, but Andre had finally gained full trust of Libby again.

Shayla thoroughly enjoyed spending her time with her paternal grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins. Each time she visited them, they would all have a special get together just so they could spend time with me and Shayla. Also, each time she visited, they would make sure that Caleb had no idea she was there. They were determined to not make Shayla face her biological dad ever again.

There was one particular weekend, though, when Shayla was ten years old that everyone except Jenna and her mother was busy, so Shayla just spent the full day with them at Michael and Joanie's (Caleb and Jenna's parents) apartment. Things didn't go so well.

…

Jenna's POV

My mom, Shayla, and I were having the best time. Since it was just us three girls, it was a girl's day. Tori would have been here and I wanted her to be with us, but she wanted to give us our own time with Shayla, which my mom and I weren't complaining about. We adored Shayla and are so grateful that Tori is letting us continue to see her.

Everything was going smoothly until the door opened and closed. I turned around and saw Caleb. My eyes widened at the same time he looked at me. "Hey sis," he said with a smile. "Watch out, your eyes are gonna fall out of your head."

"Crap," said my mom and I at the same time. I looked at Shayla. She was looking around confused. "Look down," I said in an anxious whisper to Shayla. When Caleb was almost right behind me and Shayla still hadn't looked down, I gave her a glare and she immediately looked at the ground and was able to hide her face from Caleb.

I stood up and got in Caleb's line of walk before he could get to Shayla. "Hi Caleb. Uh…what are you doing here?"

"Just came to visit my parents," he said. "Is that a bad thing?"

I gulped. "No, but…um…you should have called. And besides…Dad isn't here." Dear God, how could we forget to tell Caleb we were doing something today?

"Didn't think I had to call to come visit," he said as if he was confused. "Besides, Kaylee took Aliyah to Central Park, so I was at home by myself and thought that I would come here." Kaylee was his wife and Aliyah was his two-year-old daughter and I can guarantee you that he treated them right. We all kept a close eye on them when they visited and they all appeared very happy. Now that I think about it, Tori had a fake smile plastered across her face when she, Caleb, and Shayla visited us. Caleb had grown up in the last six years and he was a lot more mature. We never told Tori about Kaylee or Aliyah, because we didn't want to upset her. But it seemed like she would find out now with Shayla most likely listening to every word.

"Yeah, well um…" I started off, but Caleb interrupted me.

"Hey, who's that?" he said, trying to look around me.

I stood in his line of view and tried not to make it look so suspicious. "Oh, um…" I couldn't finish talking, because Caleb walked around me and stood next to Shayla, who had her eyes locked on the ground.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi," said Shayla, barely audible. She's not stupid; she knew who it was.

"What's your name?"

"Samantha," blurted out my mom. She stood behind Shayla and put her hands on her shoulders. "This is Samantha and…she's one of my new students this year." I let out a long sigh of relief. I momentarily forgot that my mom was a fifth grade teacher.

Caleb made a weird face. "But school hasn't even started yet. There's still like another week left of summer break."

My mom raised her eyebrows. "Do you have a problem with a teacher trying to get to know her students ahead of time?"

"Hmm," said Caleb. "Well…I guess not. It's still weird."

"Hey, I don't tell you how to mechanic." said my mom. "You just do you and I'll do me."

He gave her a thumbs up. "Got it," He looked at Shayla. "Nice to meet you," He turned around told me that he would go ahead and go to the park so he could see Kaylee and Aliyah. Then he left.

As soon as the door shut behind Caleb, Shayla burst into the tears. "Oh, my gosh," she mumbled with her hands covering her face. "Why was he here?"

"Oh, sweetie, I'm so sorry." said my mom while sitting in a chair next to her and giving her a hug. "I feel awful, honey. We neglected to tell him that we were busy today. I'm so sorry."

When she somewhat recovered and could talk again, she said in between sobs, "Who are Kaylee and Aliyah?"

My mom and I glanced at each other. I sighed and sat down in a chair next to her. "Kaylee is his wife and….Aliyah is his two-year-old daughter."

Shayla shot her head up and looked up at me. She didn't even care about the tears that were stained on her cheeks. "You mean to say he has a wife and child when he physically abused me and my mom once upon a time?"

"Yeah," I said quietly. "But…he's changed. He treats them right."

I didn't know the right words to say, but apparently, those words weren't right either. Shayla became flaming mad. She stood up and exclaimed, "So if he treats his new wife and kid right, what did me and my mom do wrong? What did we do to deserve the abuse that we got?"

I didn't know what to say or do, so I looked to my mom and she cleared her throat, stood up, and grabbed Shayla's hands so she could look her in the eye. "Shayla, you and your mother didn't do anything wrong. Caleb is the one that was messed up. He's just grown and matured over the last six years."

Shayla yanked out of her grip. "I don't wanna be here right now." She turned around and walked past me and my mom. "I'm calling my mom and telling her about this."

"No, Shayla!" said my mom and she caught up to her before she could leave the apartment. "Please, don't do that. We can just–"

"Just what?" snapped Shayla. "Lie to my mom? Just like you've been doing ever since you knew he had a wife? Yeah, well, maybe you can lie to my mom, but I can't." She turned around and walked out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her. I could hear her running down the hallway.

Oh boy.


	37. Different Sides

Tori's POV

I was sitting in the hotel room relaxing while Aubrey took a nap when my cell phone rang. Andre had taken Branson and Gabe out walking. I decided that I wanted to stay in the room with Aubrey, so that's what I did. I looked at the caller ID and saw that Shayla was calling me. I know what you're thinking, why would I give my ten-year-old daughter a cell phone? Well, it was used for emergencies only. That's why I was confused as to why she was calling me. I wasn't supposed to come get her for another couple of hours.

I answered the phone anyway. "Hey honey," I said.

She sniffled. It sounded like she was crying. "Mom, will you please come get me?"

"Uh…sure, if you want me to." I said confused. "What happened? I wasn't supposed to come get you for another couple of hours."

"I know, but…I don't care." She sighed shakily. "I don't wanna be here anymore."

"Baby, did something happen?" I asked.

She hesitated before saying, "You could say that,"

"What's going on?" I asked, getting nervous.

"It's…a long story." he told me shakily. "Please just come get me, Mom."

"Okay, I'll get there as quick as I can, alright?" I said. "Dad is out now with Branson and Gabe, so I'll call him and once he comes back to the room, I'll be on my way."

She started crying as she said, "Please hurry, Mom,"

My heart ached for my little girl; I hated to hear her this upset. I was so confused as to what was going on. "Just hang in there. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Okay…bye,"

"Bye," I said and hung up. I immediately called Andre and told him to get to the hotel as quick as he could. I gave him a quick explanation and he was on his way.

It took him approximately ten minutes to get to the hotel. He came rushing in, out of breath. "We got here as quick as we could," he said, still trying to catch his breath. Branson and Gabe were standing on either side of him.

Branson crossed his arms and said, "Yeah, making us run as if our lives depended on it."

Andre gave him a glare, but then looked back at me. "Okay, you're free. I'll hold up the fort here."

I grabbed my purse and said, "Thank you," We quickly kissed and I ran out of the hotel. I didn't want to have to hail a taxi, but I didn't have any other choice, so that's what I had to do. Of course, it was New York, so it took a little while to get to Joanie's apartment, but it wasn't too bad since we stayed at the hotel closest to where they live, which is only five miles away. We arrived at the apartment fifteen minutes later.

When we pulled up, I saw Shayla sitting by the awning of the building and I could see that Jenna was behind her, trying to talk to her, but Shayla was ignoring her. I looked at the cab driver and said, "I'm sorry, but do you think you could stay here and wait? I'll try to make this short."

"Take your time," he said coolly.

"Thanks," I said and climbed out of the car. I shut the door and walked quickly over to them. When Shayla noticed I was there, she ran up to me and wrapped her arms around my waist. I gave her a hug as well and said, "Honey, what's going on?"

She simply let go of me and looked up at me. "Ask Aunt Jenna," She walked around me and went to sit in the cab.

Once she was in the car and out of ear sight, I walked up to Jenna. "Okay, Jenna, what the heck is going on?" I asked in aggravation.

She sighed shakily. "Well, me, my mom, and Shayla were sitting in the living room when…Caleb walked in."

My eyes got as big as saucers. I couldn't believe what I'd just heard. "Oh, my God," I said. "You've got to be kidding me."

She shook her head. "No, I'm not,"

"Why was he there?" I exclaimed. "I thought you guys would keep him away when we were here!"

"I don't know, we just neglected to let him know that we were doing something." she told me frantically. "I'm so sorry, Tori, but it won't happen again."

I crossed my arms. "So what happened? When he showed up?"

"Nothing!" I raised my eyebrows. She sighed and said, "He asked who Shayla was, but we said that she was a student of my mom's and it pretty much ended at that. He told us a few more things and left. I promise you, that's all that happened."

I was still eying her. "Did he try talking to her?"

"Uh…yeah," she said slowly. But then she quickly said, "But all he said was hey and she said hi back and that was it. We intervened and didn't let anymore conversation happen. Shayla kept her head down the whole time he was there."

I was still a little angry, but I guess it could have been worse. I sighed and said, "Okay…well…I guess that's okay." I glanced back at Shayla and she was looking down with her arms crossed. I looked back at Jenna. "Is that the only reason why Shayla is so upset?"

"Well…actually…no." She paused. "There's something else."

"What is it?" I asked calmly as possible.

Jenna sighed heavily. "Um…well…she found out that Caleb…currently has a wife and two-year-old daughter."

If I thought my eyes bugged out big before, after learning this news from Jenna…it just didn't even compare. I couldn't believe what I had just heard. "He…are you…oh, my gosh…you're serious?"

She slowly nodded. "Yeah. I'm so sorry for not telling you."

"Uh huh," I said and gave a nod. I was so mad I didn't know what to do. "Does he treat them good?"

"Yes, he does," she said immediately. "He treats them with so much respect."

For some reason, those words caused my heart to shatter into a million pieces. I gulped and said, "So let me see if I understand this: he marries me, we have a kid together, and then five months later, he abuses me for four years and even abuses our daughter. Then I leave and he finds someone else and they get married, have a child, and everything is perfect?"

She just stared at me for a moment. "Uh…I guess, but Tori, he was messed up when you were with him. He had a really bad alcohol problem, but he's got his life in order now. I can tell by looking in his wife and daughter's eyes that he is treating them right."

My eyes filled up with tears. "You sure that he treats them right? Because it took you forever to figure out how he was treating me."

"I just know, Tori." she said. "I know for sure that he's not hurting them."

"Hmm," I said. I sighed heavily and shook my head. "Jenna…I thought we were friends."

"Tori, we are!" she said immediately. "We've been friends for years!"

"But friends don't lie to each other, Jenna!" I exclaimed. "You've known for a long time that my ex-husband has been with another lady and they have a daughter together and I'm just now figuring this out? Why is that?"

"I…I didn't wanna upset you." she said in a small voice. "We knew that if you found out, you would be even more upset."

"Upset?" I exclaimed. "You didn't want me upset? Well, how do you like me now?" I was now fuming angry and screaming. "I'm furious with you right now, Jenna! Not just about this, but for making my daughter cry and she doesn't cry at a lot of things! How do you think she felt when she found out about this? She probably felt replaced, because I sure as heck do! I feel like Caleb just dumped me and Shayla off to the side and went and found some other woman and had a baby with her! I can bet you anything that Shayla felt like she was replaced! Jenna, do you not understand that your brother is a jerk who cares nothing about himself? He doesn't know how to treat a person!"

I could tell that Jenna was now angry. "Two things, Tori; one, Caleb is my brother. Don't you ever talk about him like that. And two, you left. Caleb didn't dump you and Shayla off to the side. If anything, you dumped him off to the side. How do you think it felt for him to get home from work one day and his wife and child are just gone? That must have been awful for him!"

"He deserved it from the way he treated me! Besides, if I had just asked for a divorce, God knows what he would have tried to do to me! I had no other way out!" I exclaimed. "Caleb is nothing but a huge loser and jerk from what he did! I hate him so much, Jenna!" That was probably not the smartest thing to say, considering I was talking to Caleb's sister, but all of it was still true.

"I think you forgot that you're talking to Caleb's sister." she said angrily. "And yes, maybe Caleb has made a few mistakes, but he is my brother and I still love him. I don't want you to ever hear those words come out of your mouth again, do you hear me?"

"You can't boss me around, Jenna." I told her sharply. "And try being in my shoes. How do you think it felt for me to deal with your brother's abusive ways for four years? You told me you read my book, right?"

"Yes, but–"

"So you know of all the crap I've had to deal with in my life!" I screamed at her. "You have no idea the kind of pain and suffering I've been through! I know that Caleb is your brother and I respect that, but I think you need to respect me as well. How would you feel if I had a brother and my brother was married to you and he abused you for four years?"

She just stared at me, not knowing what to say. She was so angry though, I could tell.

"Exactly," I said. "You don't know, because you don't understand what it's like. But right now, I'm done talking to you." I turned around and walked to the cab. Just as I was about to open the door, I looked back at Jenna and said, "You can forget about seeing Shayla from now on." That was when I opened the door, got in next to Shayla, and slammed it.

The driver looked back at me. "Whoa, is everything okay?"

"Not really, but it's whatever." I said and crossed my arms. "I'm sorry for slamming the door."

"It's fine," he told me. "So I guess back to the hotel?"

"Yes, please," I said. "Thank you,"

He gave a nod and then began to drive off. I tried to talk to Shayla, but she was too upset and angry to say anything, which was understandable. I couldn't imagine what it was like for her to see her biological dad walk in. I'm just so thankful that I wasn't there. If I was, he would have recognized me in a second and who knows what would have happened. Shayla was four when we left and was currently ten; so of course, she's changed quite a bit. You could still tell it was her by looking at a picture though. Thank God she was looking down.

**So…whose side are you on? Tori's or Jenna's? I can see both sides, but I'm partial to Tori…**

**Review and let me know what you think! :)**


	38. Sibling Bonding

**So…I usually proofread, but my friend is being very impatient, so here is the chapter! Ugh, why must I give into this peer pressure? Haha.**

** And I know this doesn't have anything to do with the story, but when I think about what happened today in regards to the shooting in Connecticut, I just get so sad. How could someone do something like that?! Some people in this world are just insane in the head, like I don't understand it! Ughhhhhh, makes me so mad! All the families in effect of this are in my thoughts and prayers.**

** Okay, enough of that**

Tori's POV

As soon as we arrived at the hotel, we went right up to the room. When we walked in, I saw Branson and Gabe on one bed with Andre and Aubrey on the other bed; actually, Aubrey was resting against Andre's chest. I couldn't help but smile. Aubrey was such a daddy's girl.

Since there are six people that were staying in the room, we had a suite, just like always. There were two bedrooms with a living room area that separates the two. Andre and the kids were currently relaxing in the kids' side of the room. There were two beds on their side, but only one on mine and Andre's side.

Andre looked up and smiled. "Hey, you two," He got up and carried Aubrey with him. "How'd it go?"

Shayla shook her head with tears in her eyes and walked out of the room and went to the living room area, closing the door that separates the two. While she was doing that, Aubrey held out her arms, wanting me to hold her, so that's what I did. "What happened?" asked Andre once the door closed.

I sighed heavily. "A lot happened and a lot has happened that I wasn't aware of."

He looked at me confused. "What do you mean?"

I cleared my throat. "While Shayla was with Joanie and Jenna, Caleb walked in." Andre's eyes widened. "He only said hi to her and that was it. Joanie and Jenna didn't let anymore conversation go on, but then…they told her that Caleb has a wife and two-year-old daughter."

"What?" exclaimed Andre. "That's crazy! But why would they keep that from you?"

"Jenna said they didn't wanna upset me." I told him. "I would be happy for him and I should be, but…I don't. I feel…kind of replaced." I sighed heavily and my voice shook. "I mean…it feels like Shayla and I did something wrong. He treated us like crap, but then apparently treats his new family amazing. And Jenna told me this like it was supposed to make me feel better, but it didn't. It made me feel worse."

"Hold on, hold on," said Branson and we both turned around. "You mean to say that jerk face has another family?" Branson refers to Caleb as jerk face and has for years now. He's made it clear on many occasions that he hates his guts.

"It appears so." I told him.

He pointed his thumb towards the other room. "Is that why Shayla is crying?" Andre and I both nodded. Branson sighed and said, "Okay, I'll be back…" He got off the bed and walked into the living room, opening and closing the door behind him.

….

Shayla's POV

I can't believe this! My dad (well, biological dad) has had a family for at least two years and I'm just now finding out about this! I don't know how my mom felt, but I felt replaced. You'd think that since I was so young when I was with my biological dad that I wouldn't remember much, but sadly, I do. I have so many scarred memories, one of which would be the time he hit me when I was four. I try not to think about that day too much. The only good thing that came out of that was that four days after that happened, my mom and I left. To this day, I can still remember how happy and excited I was about leaving.

I was still crying on the couch in the living room area when I heard the door open and close. I didn't look up, because I assumed it was one of my parents wanting to talk to me. Well, whatever they had to say wouldn't do any good. They didn't understand me.

I heard a plop on the couch and long sigh. I knew for a fact that that couldn't be one of my parents. I slowly turned around and saw Branson sitting there. He smiled and said, "Hey sis. What's up?"

I rolled my eyes and turned back around. "Go away,"

"I'm not going away until you talk to me." He got on my other side, where I was forced to look at him. "What did jerk face do to you?" I smiled whenever Branson called my biological dad jerk face.

"It wasn't what he did today, but what he's been doing all along that I wasn't aware of." I told him. My eyes filled up with tears and I said, "He has another family. It's like my mom and I were replaced."

He hesitated and then said, "How could you think that? No one could ever replace you or your mom."

I smiled at him. "Thanks, Branson. But…it just feels that way. Me and my mom left and he finds another woman and has a daughter with her. Apparently, he treats them right, says my aunt. But she also didn't know what was going on with him and my mom. He was hurting her for three years before she even figured it out."

"So then you don't know for sure if they are being treated right." he said. "You're just going off of assumption."

I sighed heavily. "But I still hope that he's not hurting them. No one deserves to go through that."

"Yeah, I know." he said quietly.

I sighed angrily. "I still can't believe he hurt me like that when I didn't do anything to him! I heard noise going on in my parents' bedroom, so I walked in to see what was going on and…I saw him standing over my mom. I even knew at the time that he had just been hitting her, but…I didn't wanna admit it." I closed my eyes to stop myself from crying anymore. Thank God I never saw him hitting my mom. "I walked a little more in the room and…I guess he saw me. He turned around…ran to me…and hit me." I shivered from the memory. "I begged him to stop, but he wouldn't." I couldn't take it anymore and just started crying.

"Hey, it's okay." said Branson and he pulled me in for a hug. "It's over." Branson has heard that story countless times, so I'm not really sure why I was telling him. Ever since I met him when I was four, I've felt like I could tell him anything. He was my best friend.

"It's just…I thought he loved me more than that." I mumbled. "I mean…I loved him, but…he didn't love me."

"I know how you feel." he whispered.

Branson was right. He did know how I feel. Well, not one hundred percent, but he knew what it was like to have a parent that didn't care. His mom never intentionally hurt him, but when he did get hurt, she didn't care about him. No telling what could have happened to him if Dad hadn't come to get him when he did. I honestly can't imagine Libby being like that though. I've talked to her a little bit and she's a really sweet lady. When I asked Dad about him one time in private, he said, "Yeah, she is really sweet. She just had a really bad drug problem. I'm glad you know the real her."

I sighed shakily and pulled away so I look him in the eye. "I still can't imagine your mom being like that."

"Yeah, I know." he said. "But…she was. I remember everything like it was yesterday."

"You know, it's funny…" I started off. "People think that I'm lying when I tell them that I remember the things my biological dad did to me, but I'm not. I wouldn't lie about that. Maybe I was so young, but it was still a very bad time in my life and sadly, I remember more than I'd like to." My mom tells me that there are things she's so thankful I don't remember. I don't know what she's talking about when she says that, but I guess it's good that I don't know.

"I completely understand that." he told me.

I shook my head and looked at him. "Why did we have to go through such bad times?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, Shay," Yeah, he's the only one that's allowed to call me that. Anyone else calls me that, I jump down their throat. He gave me that nickname, so it's appropriate that only he can call me that. "But look at us now…we have great lives. Probably better lives than most people do. Your mom started her own foundation and company and Dad is a successful musician; we have the greatest little brother and sister in the world." I couldn't but smile. I loved Gabe and Aubrey to death. I can still remember when I gave my brother that nickname. "And aren't you glad that Dad adopted you? Now we're like half-siblings."

I laughed. "When people ask how I know you, I just say you're my brother. I don't say half-brother. And we've been that way for a long time now. You're just now realizing that?"

"No, but I'm just now voicing my opinion." he said. "Is that so bad?"

I shook my head with a smile across my face. "Of course not," I stared at him for another moment before saying, "Thanks, Branson. You always know how to make me feel better."

"I try," he said and we both leaned in and hugged.

For the next fifteen minutes, we just sat there and talked. I told him the whole story about what happened at my grandma's apartment and he let me talk without any interruptions. Even though I cried at the time, I didn't cry while explaining it, mainly because I was so mad about it. Every time I visit them, they somehow keep my biological dad away and the one time they forget to tell him, he comes over. I was still so furious about it.

A few minutes later, my mom walked in the room. "Hey guys," she said and then looked at me. "You feeling better now, sweetie?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm better," I patted Branson's shoulder. "Thanks to this dude right here."

Mom giggled. "That's great, honey," Then she said, "Well, hey, we're all gonna go out to eat in about thirty minutes, so if there's anything you guys need to do, I suggest you get it done now."

"Where are we gonna go?" I asked.

"I don't know," she said. "I figured we could just walk around a little and I'm sure we'll find a place."

"Okay," I said. "Hey, Mom…are we still gonna be leaving tomorrow?"

"Oh yeah," she said. "I want to get out as soon as we can."

I nodded, understanding exactly what she was talking about. Earlier, while I had been sitting in the cab, my mom and Aunt Jenna were fighting. I couldn't hear every word, but I caught an occasional word and let me tell you, my mom was fuming angry. I've never seen her that angry. The last thing she was that I wouldn't be seeing them anymore. At the time, I was okay with that.


	39. Good in Goodbye

**Disclaimer: I don't own "Good in Goodbye" by Carrie Underwood. (I've noticed that I have put a lot of songs in this story, but I can't help it! I just love music so much!) :)**

** Enjoy the chapter! Don't forget to review! :D**

Tori's POV

Walking around the streets of New York was amazing. There were so many sights to see and there were countless restaurants to go to that it was hard to choose from. The only downside was that the sidewalks were crawling with people, which is why Andre was holding Gabe and I was holding Aubrey. Branson and Shayla were staying right by our sides.

Everything was going great until we walked past a certain restaurant. I looked at it and my eyes widened. One look at it and a million memories came flooding back into my brain. I couldn't believe that this little diner was staring at me in the face. It was just so unreal. I never imagined that I would stand in front of it again.

Andre nudged me and I looked at him. "You alright?"

I cleared my throat and nodded. "Yeah…I'm fine, it's just…"

"What?"

So no one, especially Shayla, would hear me, I leaned in and whispered, "This is a restaurant that Caleb and I used to go to all the time. Back when…he was so sweet to me."

His eyes widened as well. "Do you wanna go somewhere else?"

"Yes, please," I said and we started to walk away. As we were walking off, I looked back and my heart stopped; the sight definitely caught me in my tracks. It was taking me back. My eyes were filling with tears and one slid down my cheek.

It was Caleb. With a little girl up on his shoulders. He looked happy. Really happy, actually. The little girl couldn't be more than two; I knew for a fact that that was his daughter. There was also a very pretty blond standing next to him and they were both smiling and laughing, but I had my eyes on the little girl. She looked exactly like him. I know where she got those crystal eyes of blue.

Time has definitely been sweet to him.

After that, I was zoned out for the rest of the day and no one, not even my husband who had very comforting words, could get me out of it. I was gone and there was nothing even I could do about it.

…

The next day, I was a little better. My family asked me what had happened to me the day before, but there was no way I could tell them. Just so they wouldn't keep questioning me about it, I told them that I was distracted from thinking about my job. They didn't believe me, but they also didn't question me anymore about it.

While on the plane ride back, when Shayla and Gabe were asleep next to me (Andre was behind me with Branson and Aubrey), I pulled out a piece of scratch paper from my purse, pulled back the tray table, and began to scribble out lyrics.

_I heard you laughing_

_ In a crowd outside a restaurant we used to go to_

_ I caught a glimpse that stopped me in my tracks_

_ It took me back_

_ You look happy with that little girl up on your shoulders, happy_

_ I know where she got those crystal eyes of blue_

_ Time's been sweet to you_

_ As bad as it was_

_ As bad as it hurt_

_ I thank God I didn't get what I thought that I deserved_

_ Sometimes life leads you down a different road_

_ When you're holding on to someone that you gotta let go_

_ Someday you'll see the reason why_

_ Sometimes, yeah sometimes_

_ There's good in goodbye_

_ I don't regret it_

_ The time we had together, I won't forget it_

_ But we both ended up where we belong_

_ I guess goodbye made us strong_

_ And yeah I'm happy_

_ I found somebody, too, who makes me happy_

_ And I knew one day I'd see you on the street_

_ And it'd be bittersweet_

_ But as bad as it was_

_ As bad as it hurt_

_ I thank God I didn't get what I thought that I deserved_

_ Sometimes life leads you down a different road_

_ When you're holding on to someone that you gotta let go_

_ Someday you'll see the reason why_

_ Yeah sometimes, yeah sometimes_

_ There's good in goodbye_

_ As bad as it was_

_ Yeah, as bad as it hurt_

_ I thank God I didn't get what I thought that I deserved_

_ Sometimes life leads you down a different road_

_ When you're holding on to someone that you got to let go_

_ Someday you'll see the reason why_

_ Yeah, someday you'll see the reason why_

_ There's good in goodbye_

_ Yeah, yeah_

_ There's good in goodbye_

I wrote a title at the top of the page: "Good in Goodbye," folded up the paper, and stuffed it into my pocket. I wasn't gonna lose that little piece of paper for anything. As I was writing that song, I had tears streaming down my cheeks. The line "I thank God I didn't get what I thought that I deserved" is a line that spoke to me the most. It basically meant that I was happy Caleb didn't treat me the way I thought he should, because if it wasn't for that, I would never have found Andre again and we would never have reconciled our love and Gabe and Aubrey wouldn't exist. I was happier with Andre during our roughest times than I was with Caleb during our happiest times. Because no matter what, Andre would always be my very best friend in the whole entire world.

After we got back home and all the kids were up in their rooms and Andre and I were unpacking our bags in our bedroom, I just stopped and looked at him. I stared at him for a while before he finally glanced at me. He softly smiled and said, "What? Do I have something in my teeth?"

I slightly smiled and shook my head. "No," I whispered. I walked up to him and wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him. He was surprised, but he still put his arms around my waist and kissed me back.

When we pulled apart, he kept our arms around each other and rested our foreheads against each other. "What was that for?" he whispered slightly out of breath.

"No reason," I whispered and gave him another small kiss. Then my grip around him turned into a hug. He returned the hug immediately. "I just love you so much and I never want to lose you."

"And you never will, baby." he whispered in my ear.

I was just so lucky.


	40. Nightmares

Tori's POV

When we got home, things went back to normal. I forgot about the song I wrote and just focused on helping the girls at my rehab center. There was no better feeling than seeing the looks on those girl's faces when they realized that what they had been doing was wrong. Then once they realized that, they were on their way to getting better. Some rehab centers kick the patients out, but that did not happen at mine. They stayed for as long as they felt they needed to. For some girls that was only two weeks, but for others, two months.

A few weeks after being in New York, I started to get calls from Jenna, but I either answered and hung up on her or just let it go to voicemail. She always left a voicemail, but I deleted it before I could listen to it. I didn't wanna talk to her. I was still so mad about her not telling me that Caleb had a wife and a daughter. Believe it or not, I prayed every single night that he was treating them right, especially his little girl. I thought about her up on his shoulders all the time and she was so adorable.

Shayla has told me so many times that she wishes she could get rid of the memories she had with her biological dad, because they were too painful to think about. I told her that I understood, but that it could be worse. My memory of her witnessing the time Caleb hit me played through my mind more than I would have like, but every time it does, I thank God that she was only two and can't remember it. She's never mentioned it and I've never brought it up. I hope it stays that way.

…

Shayla's POV

I had the most awful nightmare in the entire world one night in October.

It started out with me in an unfamiliar room. I felt like I should recognize it, but I didn't. I looked down and saw a little girl running around the room playing with some dolls while at the same time watching cartoons on the TV. The little girl looked so innocent and sweet. Something about her was really familiar, but I couldn't place it.

Then I heard screaming. The scream was really loud and terrifying and the little girl ran out of the room, following the sound. I followed her to see where she was going. Then she stopped in the hallway that led into the kitchen, but she still had a good eye at what was going on in the kitchen. I couldn't tell what was going on, but I was looking at her face. She was terrified, shaking, and about to cry. My heart broke looking at this precious little girl.

Another scream was heard, which ripped right through me. Then I looked at the sight that the little girl was looking at. I gasped and threw my hands to my mouth. The sight in front of me was horrifying. I saw a lady in probably her twenties and she was leaned against the counter under the sink and her husband was standing over her and he was hitting her as hard as he could. He screamed in her face, kicked her, and punched her. I wanted to know who it was, but I couldn't tell because the lady had her face hidden behind her hands. Even with the punches she was currently getting, I could see other bruises on her body. Her husband had been treating her awful, I could tell.

Then he was done. He stood up, breathing heavily, and walked out of the room. I watched him walk off, hating his guts for putting his wife through that. But then I heard the lady's voice. "Shayla?" she said.

I looked at her. My eyes widened in surprise and fear. My jaw dropped open. Oh, my God. This was one of those dreams that gave you a big sense of de ja vu. In that moment, I realized that what I was watching was my biological dad beat up my mom. My eyes filled up with tears.

The little girl was me.

I was looking at my mom with terrified eyes. My two-year-old self just stood there for a moment, I guess trying to let it sink in, but still shaking uncontrollably. I blinked a little bit and then started crying. My mom looked at me and I could tell by the look on her face that it was breaking her heart.

My mom got off the ground and immediately ran over to my two-year-old self, picked me up, and held me close to her chest. She said, "Oh, it's okay, baby girl," and kissed my forehead. "It's alright, Shayla, I got it."

This was so freaky.

"Mommy?" I mumbled to her. "Why Daddy so mean to you?"

My mom's face crumbled. That question broke her heart even more. "Oh, baby…I don't know. He…he was angry, but…it'll be okay, honey. Mommy's okay." I could tell now by looking at her that she wasn't okay at all. It was taking everything she had not to break down.

While she was holding me, I pulled away and looked her in the eye. I said, "Will Daddy ever hit me?"

While standing there, my voice cracked as I said, "Yes," but no one heard me.

I could tell that my mom's heart broke even more. It showed on her face and she was hurting, but she still mustered up enough strength to say, "No, baby. I won't let him."

I let out a long scream and rose up in bed. I screamed until my voice couldn't go anymore and then I bent over and cried my eyes out in my hands. Even though I knew that my real dad hurt my mom, I never witnessed it, which I was very thankful about. I was wrong; I did witness it. I just couldn't remember it since I was so small when it happened. Well, now it would be permanently burned into my brain forever along with all those other awful memories with the man who ruined my life.

A second later, the door swung open and the light was turned on. I would have looked to see who it was, but I didn't care. "Shayla!" a voice explained. It was Branson.

I still didn't look up at him. I just continued to cry on my bed. Then I heard Branson run up to me and sit on my bed. He wrapped his arms around me, giving me a tight hug. I couldn't help but put my arms around him and cry with my head on his shoulder. Branson always has been and always will be my best friend in the whole wide world. From the moment I met him, I knew we'd be friends for a long time. Who knew that we'd be brother and sister one day? Well, it wasn't too much of a shock since my mom and his dad had a history long before we were even born.

Branson hugged me in silence for a few moments, but then he asked quietly, "What's going on, Shay?"

I let out a few more sobs before mumbling, "He…was there."

"What?" he said and pulled us out of the hug so he could look me in the eye, but I wasn't looking at him. I was looking down at the ground while crying. "Shayla, please look at me."

"Branson…I…I can't," I mumbled and wrapped my arms around him, burying my head in his shoulder. "I can't stop crying." And that was a true statement. The harder my sobs got, the harder it got to breathe. I was taking small, fast breaths.

He sighed and then asked gently, "What do you want?"

It took me about a second to say, "My mom. Please, Branson…go get my mom. I need my mommy with me right now." It had been years since I called her Mommy, but I'd never wanted her more than right now.

"Okay, I'll be right back." he said and he was out of the room within five seconds. I laid down and put my head back on my pillow, still crying my eyes out. My chest was beginning to hurt from my frequent sobs. It was either that or the fact that I hadn't taken a good breath in at least a minute. I kid you not, I probably could have laid there and cried forever if no one came in the room.

**Poor Shayla :(**


	41. Blown Away

**I feel like I say this a lot, but it's true…I'm updating because my friend was pestering me to do it. So…literally, go thank her. Haha. :P**

**Disclaimer: I don't own "Blown Away" by Carrie Underwood.**

Tori's POV

I was sleeping soundly when I felt someone shaking me awake. I moaned and said, without opening my eyes, "What?"

"Tori?" whispered Branson. "Wake up,"

I sighed and opened my eyes. "I'm up," I said and rubbed my eyes. I wasn't even close to being awake. "What do you need this late at night?"

"It's Shayla," he said. "I don't know what's wrong with her."

Suddenly, I was wide awake. I rose up and said, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I don't know what's wrong with her." he said again. "I heard her screaming, so I went into her room and she was bawling her eyes out. When I went to hug her and ask what was wrong, she could hardly talk. But then when I asked her what she wanted after she told me she couldn't stop crying, she said you. She wanted me to get you as quickly as I could, so before she breaks apart completely, go up there and see what she needs."

It took less than two seconds to jump out of bed. "Just go back to bed and I'll see what's wrong."

He nodded and we both headed out of the bedroom. We walked through the living room and headed up the stairs together, but then he went off to the right to his and Gabe's bedroom while I went to the left to go to Shayla's bedroom. Since there are only three bedrooms upstairs, we had to split our four kids up somehow. We decided that Branson and Gabe should share the biggest room while Shayla and Aubrey each had their own room, which was connected by a bathroom. It was a nice arrangement and worked out well. Besides, Gabe got the room to his self every other weekend when Branson was with Libby.

I didn't even knock on the door to Shayla's room. When I walked in, I immediately said, "Shayla?" I walked into the room and sat on the edge of the bed. "Shayla, honey, what's going on?" Branson was right. She really was bawling her eyes out.

"Mommy," she mumbled and rose up and immediately hugged me while still crying. She sounded like she couldn't stop crying.

I hugged her as tightly as I could, hoping it would help her to stop crying, but I don't think it helped at all. "Honey, you've got to talk to me and tell me what's wrong." I rubbed my hand over the back of her hair. "Please, tell me,"

She breathed a few heavy, shaky breaths and said, "I can't…breathe." Then she let out a few more sobs. "I'm…I'm crying too hard."

I did not like hearing that she couldn't breathe. It scared me so badly, so I said, "Sweetheart, breathe," I pulled out of the hug and looked at her, but she was looking at the ground, crying. I ran my hand across her cheeks to wipe the tears away. "Just breathe. It's alright. I'm right here."

I think those words calmed her down a little bit. After a few attempts at stopping herself from crying, she finally succeeded. Well, not completely, but enough to where she could breathe normally and talk. She took in a deep breath and said, "Mom…I had a bad dream."

"Okay," I said, a little confused. "What was going on in your dream?"

"Well…I don't know if I'd call it a dream, but…more like a…memory." she told me slowly and shakily. "It's like…I was watching something that happened a long time ago, but…I don't know. I didn't understand it."

I was not following. "Uh huh," I said. "Well…what happened in this…memory?"

"It's like…I was watching something happen, but…I don't know." she said.

I slowly shook my head. "Honey…I'm not following," I said gently. "Will you please be a little more specific?"

She sighed. I could tell she was frustrated, but I had no idea what she was talking about. "I was two years old, Mom. I watched my dad…well, biological dad…hit you." My eyes widened. "He was hitting you so hard and you were just…sitting there, taking it. Then when he finished…you noticed that I had been watching. So…you jumped up and ran to me and picked me up. You told me that you were okay, but…as I was standing there, I could tell that you weren't. You were far from okay." She looked at the ground and let a few sobs escape. "I asked…a few questions, but…the one that got to me the most was me asking, will daddy ever hit me? And…you told me that you wouldn't let him." She looked up at me with her teary eyes. "But you did…two years later."

By this time, I was in tears and felt like I wanted to cry as well. The memory that stuck with me the most was the one that she never remembered since she was so young. For so many years, I was so thankful that she couldn't remember that. Those days were gone and now, I didn't think she would ever get over this. She was traumatized. The look in her eyes told me so.

"Honey, I…I wanted to stop him." I said weakly. "I really did. But…I didn't even realize he was hurting you until it was too late. It was right after he'd hit me and I was still trying to recover in the corner, but then I heard your scream and…" I put my hand over my heart. "It ripped right through my heart." The look on her face softened a little bit. "At first, I didn't even know that you had come in the room, because trust me, if I knew you had been in the room, I would have stopped him from even coming close to you." I reached out and tucked some loose strands of hair behind her ear. "But…it could have been a lot worse."

"How?" she asked.

"Because the second I realized what he was doing to you, I jumped up from the ground and ran over to him and started to pull on his arm, begging for him to stop." I told her. "If I hadn't done that, it would have been so much worse. He probably only hit you for ten or fifteen seconds, but then he released his wrath on me and hit me for almost five minutes."

Then her face completely softened up and she wasn't mad at all. "Oh, my gosh…I didn't know he hit you that long."

I sighed and said, "Yeah, well…it wasn't always that long. Five minutes was usually the longest."

"You know, it's funny…" she said while shaking her head. "Even though I never saw him hit you…besides the time I was two…I was still so scared of him. There are times that I heard him yelling at you and I could hear your screams of pain, but most of the time, I would hide away in this dirty clothes hamper in my closet, but…one time…it was so bad and it was happening at night and I couldn't sleep. I hid in my closet, but I could still hear the noises. So…what I did was…I hid away in the cellar."

I raised my eyebrows. "In the cellar?"

"Yeah," she said. "I had just turned four when that happened. And…I probably stayed there for hours. When I finally came out, I heard complete silence. I was still scared, but I still crawled back into bed and went to sleep. The next morning, everything was okay again. You were okay and…he was already gone for work."

I was looking at her confused. How could my four-year-old hideaway in the cellar and I didn't know? "Shayla…you hid in the cellar?"

She nodded. "I didn't know where else to go."

"But…why?"

She shrugged. "Some people might call it taking shelter, but…I didn't." She hesitated. "I called it revenge. It was a way he couldn't get to me."

I nodded, understanding it a little more now. "But…but the cellar? We never went down there. It just came with the house."

"I know," she said. "And remember…I was so little and…I had nowhere else to go. It was my safe haven."

"But when you say you called it revenge, what do you mean?"

She sighed. "I…I don't know really. As I said, it was the way he couldn't get to me. And…it's not like I liked him being mean to you, because I didn't. I hate that. It's just…I don't know. It's confusing. I guess my four-year-old reasoning wasn't the best." She softly smiled.

I softly smiled back. "If you were so little…how did you find it?"

She smiled. "I was a curious little child."

I understood this better now, but there was still one thing I was missing. "I know you heard us fighting, but…I never thought you heard him hitting me."

"Well, yeah," she said. "That's why I was scared of him."

"Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"I didn't wanna upset you." she told me. "And…it wasn't that bad…I guess. Not nearly as bad as actually witnessing it. I tried so hard not to ever see it, because I knew that if I did, I would be scarred for life." She sighed shakily and looked at the ground. "But…little did I know that I actually had seen it. Just didn't remember,"

I reached out and rubbed her shoulder. "I'm so sorry, sweetie. I feel so bad."

"Why should you?" she asked. "I can't help what I dream."

I didn't have anything to say to that, so I just smiled and nodded. Then I sighed and said, "So…does anyone else know about this one-time cellar thing?"

"Well…one person does,"

"Who?"

She bit her lip and said, "Aunt Jenna,"

My eyes widened. "Jenna?" I asked. I hadn't talked to her since our big fight. "Uh…when did you tell her?"

"Oh, it was a long time ago," she said. "I couldn't have been more than…seven, maybe. But you know…the visit after I told her that, she gave me something." Shayla leaned over to her bedside table, opened up a drawer, and pulled out a piece of folded paper. She looked at me and smiled. "I've been keeping this in secret for a long time." She handed me the paper.

I took it slowly and unfolded it. This is what it said:

_Blown Away_

_By: Jenna Wallace_

_For my beautiful niece, Shayla Harris_

_ Dry lightening cracks across the skies_

_ Those storm clouds gather in her eyes_

_ Her daddy was a mean old mister_

_ Mama was an angel on the ground_

_ The weather man called for a twister_

_ She prayed blow it down_

_ There's not enough rain in Oklahoma to wash the sins out of that house_

_ There's not enough wind in Oklahoma to rip the nails out of the past_

_ Shatter every window till it's all blown away_

_ Every brick, every board, every slammin' door, blown away_

_ Till there's nothing left standing, nothing left of yesterday_

_ Every tear-soaked whiskey memory blown away_

_ She heard those sirens screaming out_

_ Her daddy laid there passed out on the couch_

_ She locked herself in the cellar_

_ Listened to the screaming of the wind_

_ Some people call it taking shelter_

_ She called it sweet revenge_

_ Shatter every window till it's all blown away_

_ Every brick, every board, every slammin' door, blown away_

_ Till there's nothing left standing, nothing left of yesterday_

_ Every tear-soaked whiskey memory blown away_

_ Blown away_

_ There's not enough rain in Oklahoma to wash the sins out of that house_

_ There's not enough wind in Oklahoma to rip the nails out of the past_

_ Shatter every window till it's all blown away_

_ Every brick, every board, every slammin' door, blown away_

_ Till there's nothing left standing, nothing left of yesterday_

_ Every tear-soaked whiskey memory blown away_

_ Blown away_

By the time I finished reading over it, I had tears streaming down my cheeks. I slowly shook my head and said, "She…she wrote this?"

Shayla nodded. "Mhmm. I know you and she had a really bad fight, but…she's a really good person." She gulped. "She's on our side. Of course, she loves her brother, but…she doesn't love what he did to us, not even close. She's told me that if she dwells on what he did to us that she wouldn't even be able to look at him and she couldn't for a while after she first found out about it. But she finally had to move on from it."

"Wow," I whispered and shook my head. I put the paper down on the table and then wiped the tears off of my cheeks. Then I said. "It looks like you two have had some pretty deep conversations."

"We have," she said. "And…you know, Mom, I was really mad at her too after…you know, what happened in August. But…I've been thinking about it and I think it's time we forgive her. So what if my biological dad came in the room? He was only there for maybe two minutes and I was looking at the floor the whole time."

I was looking at my daughter in disbelief. She was so upset after that happened that I didn't think she'd be able to get over it. She was really growing up. "You were just so mad about it after that happened though. I didn't think you'd be able to get over it."

She giggled and shrugged. "I've just had time to think about it. And believe me, I was really mad about it. But…things happen and it was a mistake. They didn't mean to forget to call him, it just happened. I was also mad about the fact that he was a wife and daughter, but hey…the reason they didn't tell us was to spare our feelings. They had good intentions. And…about the other thing…well, they did do a great job at stopping him from talking to me."

I gulped and nodded. "Yeah…I guess they did."

"So, Mom…would it be okay if I saw Aunt Jenna and Grandma and Grandpa again?" she asked quietly. "I miss them."

I hesitated before saying, "Honey, you have a phone. I know I told you it was for emergencies only, but if you really wanted to talk to your aunt or grandparents, you could have called them."

She sighed and said, "I didn't wanna betray you."

"What?" I exclaimed. "How would calling your family have betrayed me?"

"Because you haven't been talking to them," she said. "I didn't wanna talk to them unless you said it was okay. And…I understand that you've been mad. You had the right to be mad. It's just…I've thought it through and I can't be mad at them anymore, since they technically didn't do anything to me. I'm sorry, but…I just miss them is all." She gulped. "I can't help it."

I slowly smiled at her. Shayla sounded so grown up for her age. She's only ten years old and yet she sounded like a grown-up. I always knew she was a smart girl, but dang…she was sure acting wise beyond her years. I hated to admit it, but she was even acting more mature about the situation than I was. While she was moving on and wanted to talk to them again, I was still holding a grudge. Even though Jenna didn't tell me about Caleb's wife and child, her reason behind it was that she didn't wanna upset me. So, in a way, she was trying to protect me. I had been acting so selfish.

But sitting here with my daughter, at 4:35 in the morning, having a grown-up conversation with her, she made me realize that. Once I got back in bed five minutes later, I promised myself that I would call Jenna tomorrow and give her a sincere apology.


	42. The Talk

Tori's POV

The next day, after I got home from work, I went outside to our porch and sat in one of the chairs. I sat there just staring at the pool for a moment, trying to collect my thoughts and emotions, and then I finally pulled my phone out of my pocket. I searched through my contacts and found the number I was looking for. After a few deep breaths, I pressed call and held the phone to my ear.

The phone was picked up after the third ring. "Hello?"

I cleared my throat. "Um…hi Jenna,"

I heard her catch her breath. "Tori," She sounded very relieved. "Hi. I've wanted to talk to you."

"I know," I told her. "I'm sorry I avoided your calls. I shouldn't have."

"No, no, it's my fault," she said immediately. "I was wrong from what I did. I should have told you about Kaylee and Aliyah."

I assumed that Kaylee and Aliyah was Caleb's wife and child, but just so I could be sure, I said, "Just to be clear, Kaylee and Aliyah are his wife and child, right?"

"Yeah," she said quietly. "Kaylee is his wife and Aliyah is his daughter. But like I was saying, I should have told you about them. I was wrong to keep it from you."

"You did it for me," I said. "You had good intentions."

"But still," she told me. "The look on your face when I told you about it…it was heartbreaking to me. If I could take back that moment…heck, that whole fight! If I could take that fight back, I would! I'm so, so sorry about everything that happened that day."

I sighed. "It's…it's okay. It was a mistake. I know you didn't mean to forget to tell Caleb to pretty much stay away that day. I'm just glad he didn't talk to Shayla as much as he could of."

"Me too," she said instantly. "My mom and I were doing everything we could so they wouldn't have to talk to each other. The only exchange was a hi between them, but that was it. I promise it was. After that, he asked Shayla what her name was, but we said that it was Samantha and that she was a girl from my mom's fifth grade class. And he bought it. Then…he told us a few things not having to do with the situation at all and then he left. That was it."

I smiled softly. "Thanks for protecting her."

After a pause, she said, "Only because we love her."

"Um…Jenna…I'm sorry about saying that you couldn't see her anymore." I blinked a few times to try and get the tears out of my eyes. "I had no right to tell you that you couldn't see your niece anymore and besides…Shayla misses you guys."

"I don't get it, Tori." she said slowly. "You say you want Shayla to stay in contact with her paternal family members, but…Caleb isn't her father. By blood yes, but not legally. Andre is her father and he's a really, really great father. Does Andre have any siblings?"

"Um…yeah," I cleared my throat. "Two sisters,"

"Okay, so…she has three real aunts, including your sister." she said sadly. "So…Andre's two sisters are her paternal aunts. I'm not. It's just…I know that Shayla calls me Aunt Jenna and I call her my niece, but…I don't know. I've been thinking about this ever since Andre adopted her, so I've been thinking about it for a long time." She hesitated and then sighed heavily. She sounded like she was trying really hard not to cry. "Caleb isn't even in her life anymore, so…why do you want his family in her life? I mean, we love being in her life, but…why?"

I was speechless for a moment. I sat there and tried to think of something to say, but nothing was coming to mind. I was quiet for so long that Jenna said, "Tori? You still there?"

"Yeah…I'm here." I told her and hesitated before saying, "I…I don't know. It might be the fact that I've known you longer than I've known Caleb. And…you were such a good friend to me during 'The Wizard of Oz.' Actually…you were my best friend from everyone involved in the production of that show."

"Aww, really?"

"Yeah, really," I told her. "And…it was great being your sister-in-law during the years I was with your brother. Now…were like best friends again." I hesitated before saying, "Can I ask you something serious?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"At the time that Andre adopted Shayla, you said that you weren't mad." I started off. "But…tell me the truth. Are you mad?"

She sighed. "No. I'm not mad, Tori. Andre is a great guy and…I'm happy that Shayla has a man in her life that she can look up to. It's just…ever since he adopted her, it's like…I don't feel as close to her anymore."

"But you're still her aunt, so–"

"How am I still her aunt?" she asked quickly. "Caleb isn't really her father anymore, so what makes her my niece?"

"By blood, she's your niece," I said seriously. "I don't care that Caleb isn't in her life. You are and so are your husband, your kids, and your parents and I want all of you guys to stay in her life."

I could practically hear her smiling when she said, "You mean that?"

"Yes," I said like it was obvious. "Of course I do. I was just mad that day we had our fight. But…hey, I'm over it. And…there's also something else that makes got to talking and she showed me something." I hesitated. "It was titled 'Blown Away' and it was words that you had written. It looked like a song."

"Oh…um…yeah," she said slowly. "I wrote that back when Shayla was about seven. I'd been messing around with words in my head for a long time, but then when Shayla revealed some information to me…the thing about the cellar…I grabbed a piece of paper and wrote those lyrics down. And I've already recorded the song. I like it so much that I'm gonna make it the title of my album."

My eyes widened. "Album? You sing? You write music?"

"Yeah," she said still smiling. "It's my first one. Right now, I've got eleven songs on the album, but I need two more. I wrote every single one of the songs and I'm sure I could write two more, but I want it to come naturally and not forced. So I'm trying to figure out how I can get two more songs."

I was just listening to her talk, almost not believing it. If she had an album, she must have been a good singer. I'd never heard her sing, so I had no idea. As I was processing this, I remembered there were two songs that I had written that she could use. The first one was "Who Are You," the one I wrote for Shayla when we were escaping to LA. The second one was "Good in Goodbye," the one I wrote after I saw Caleb outside that restaurant with his daughter. I told her about this and she got really excited about it. She just wanted to hear the song, so I said, "Well, I haven't recorded them. I just have lyrics. You could come up with the music on your own. But I picture them both as ballads, so if you can sing ballads, then I would love for you to sing the songs."

"Oh, of course," she said immediately. "I have quite a few ballads on the album, so two more wouldn't hurt a bit. I can't wait to hear the songs."

"Okay, here's what I'll do," I started off. "I'll get plane tickets, so Shayla and I can come to New York. We can meet up at your place or your parents' place and we can discuss everything. And I'll bring the lyrics to the two songs." Sometimes I brought Andre and my other kids there, but sometimes, just Shayla and I went. This time, I thought it would be best if just Shayla and I went there, just the two of us.

"Great," she said. "I can't wait to see you guys."

"You too," I said. "Well…I guess I'll let you go. I gotta go tell Shayla about this and make plane arrangements. I'll call you later and let you know the plan."

"Alright," she said. "Awesome. Talk to you later,"

I smiled. "Bye,"

"Bye," and we hung up.

After I got off the phone with Jenna, I went and found Shayla up in her room and told her about my phone conversation with her aunt and she got really excited about seeing everyone up there again. Then once her excitement wore off, I went online and bought two tickets to New York for the next weekend. I was really looking forward to seeing Jenna again and hearing the songs that she had. I also couldn't wait to hear what she would do with my songs. Well, technically they would be hers, but at the same time, they were still mine. She assured me on the phone that she would give me credit for the songs.

The next weekend, Shayla and I went up to New York just as planned and we had a great time up there with Jenna and, surprisingly, Richard! I say that because last I knew he was in Afghanistan, but he was home for a little while and I was really surprised and happy to see him. You could tell that Jenna was ecstatic he was home.

Then I got a chance to give Jenna my song lyrics and after she read over them, she thought they were great songs and she couldn't wait to sing them. Since we were talking about her songs, I asked her if she could sing the other songs from her album and she told me she was happy to.

After hearing her sing "Blown Away" a Capella, I was literally in tears. It was the most beautiful song I'd heard in a long time. And, oh, my gosh, she had an angel of a voice! I never knew she could sing like that. I was surprised she hadn't made in the music world yet. Shayla was actually in tears too from hearing the song.

Once we recovered, Jenna then sang the rest of the songs from her album and they were all really good and catchy. All the songs either told a story or were about love, but regardless of what they were about, they all had good messages. Once she finished with those, she told me she would work on music for the other two songs and let me listen to them as soon as possible.

I was really proud to call Jenna one of my best friends.

….

It took her awhile, but Jenna finally released her full album a couple months later. I bought the album the day it was released and listened to every single song until I knew the word to every song (yes, they were that good). I especially loved hearing the two songs that I wrote for her. I thought she did an amazing job with both of them. They were both so catchy and had good melody. She put a lot of high notes in both songs, but she hit every single note right on target. I was very proud to say that I wrote them and if you looked at the information for both songs, my name was in there.

I just felt so lucky. I had an amazing job that gave me satisfaction every day; I had the most incredible husband in the history of the world; I had three children that I loved more than anything, and I had one step-son who I loved like my own child. Seriously, nothing about my life needs to change. It was, in a word, perfect.

**In case you're wondering, the album I'm referring to for Jenna is "Blown Away" by Carrie Underwood. It's an amazing album and the songs are perfect, so if you want, you should check it out!**

**I mentioned this in an earlier chapter, but I picture Jenna as Carrie Underwood! Looks, voice and all! So it only makes sense that I picture Carrie's album as Jenna's. Haha.**

**And also, the next chapter will be the last one (sad day)! But don't worry, I have plenty other stories to post that are all complete! So I hope you guys check those out! :)**

**Okay, until next time…don't forget to review! :D**


	43. Graduation

**Last chapter, guys! That's so crazy! I started posting the prequel to his story back in August and that feels like it was just yesterday! I'm so glad that this story has gotten good reviews! That makes me so happy :D And I hope you guys enjoy the next story I will begin posting once it's 2013! (And don't try pestering me to start posting it sooner, Jhan! My mind is made up ;P)**

**Haha, okay, enjoy this last chapter! :)**

Branson's POV

Heck yes! Finally! As soon as the last statement was spoken up on the stage, a big buzz of excitement was felt as every student in my graduating class grabbed their cap and threw it high in the air. I threw mine especially high up in the air; I know, I kept my eye on it. It went way high up. Thankfully I put my name in the hat or else I wouldn't have been able to find it afterwards.

I stayed down there and hugged some of my friends as I waited for my family to come down. After turning around from hugging one of my friends, I saw my dad, step mom, and little brother and sisters walk up to me. I smiled widely and walked right up to my dad and hugged him extra tightly. I'm not afraid to admit that my dad is my hero. He's always been there for and always will be there for me.

"Great job up there, Branson." he said when we pulled out of the hug. "That was an amazing Valedictorian speech you had."

I shrugged and said, "There's no reason to make it emotional. It's our last day here. Might as well make it fun," And that's exactly what I did. I spoke about memories throughout my high school years and other inspirational things having to do with graduation. I got a lot of laughs from my class and the audience.

"Good point there," he said.

I laughed and then looked at Shayla. I smiled widely at her and said, "Okay, come here and give your big bro a hug."

She laughed and we hugged tightly. When we pulled apart, she said, "I can't believe that you just graduated." She wiped her eyes. "I'm gonna cry."

"Hey, no crying," he said. "I'm not leaving for three more months. But think about this way, Shay…you'll be up here graduating in a year. You'll get this same excitement next year."

She smacked my shoulder and said, "Speak for yourself. Not everyone can be Valedictorian."

I shrugged and said, "Well, I guess I was just blessed with natural smartness."

Just as I said that, Tori let out a few sarcastic coughs. I gave her a playful look and she busted out laughing. "I'm sorry, Branson, I had to do it."

I started to laugh as well. "Ha ha, you're so funny. Get over here." I wrapped my arms around her and gave her a tight hug. Some kids hate their step mom, but I don't hate mine at all. She's an amazing person and I love her so much. We've bonded really well.

After that, I hugged Gabe and Aubrey. When I rose up, I saw that Aubrey was really close to crying. I bent down a little to get on her level and said, "Hey, remember what I told Shayla? No crying right now. I'll still be living with you guys all summer long."

"I know," she mumbled and immediately gave me another hug. "The thought is just hard. I'll miss you so much."

I sighed and said, "I'll miss you, too, peanut." I can't tell you why I call her peanut. I gave her that nickname when she was just a little baby and I don't remember the story behind it. It just kind of happened. "But remember…" I started off and pulled away. "You can always call me. Just because I'm going off to college doesn't mean I won't still be there for you. I'll always be your big brother."

That made her feel a lot better and she smiled widely. "I love you, Branson." she said and gave me another hug.

"Dang, what is with all the hugs today?" I said, but still hugged her back. "I sure do feel loved."

We all giggled and then I glanced off to my left. I noticed my mom talking to someone, but she was still headed my way. I gulped and said, "Hang on, I'll be back." There were so many people there that I had to push past a lot of people to get over to her.

As soon as I was standing in front of her, she turned to me and smiled widely. She covered her mouth with her hand and shook her head. "Look at you," she whispered. "You look so grown up." I could tell her voice was choking up.

"Mom…" I said and gave her a tight hug. "Please, don't cry."

"I can't help it." I heard her say. "My baby boy is all grown up."

"I've just graduated from high school." I said when we pulled apart. "I'm not all grown up until I turn twenty-one. This is just another phase in life. And I hope you didn't forget that this is our weekend together. And I've got a full two weeks with you this summer and plenty of other weekends. You can't miss me yet."

"It's just the thought." she said and then sighed shakily. "Branson…can I tell you something?"

"Of course, Mom," I said. "What is it?"

She sighed heavily and then reached up and ran her thumb across the little scar across my forehead. She did that a lot. "Branson, I'm so sorry about what happened. If I could take that day back, I would. Every day I think about that and how different life could be. If only I hadn't picked up a stupid drink it wouldn't have happened. I hate myself for allowing you to get hurt."

I'll admit it, I'm a pretty tough guy. Nothing makes me cry. I don't get emotional very easy at all. But when my mom starts talking about her past mistakes to me, I start crying myself. I bit my lip and said shakily, "Mom, it's okay." I gave her a hug. "I forgive you."

"I know, but I just can't over that I did that to you." She sighed heavily. She rubbed her hand over my cheek. "I love you more than anything in this world, Branson. I hope you know that. You have turned into such a wonderful man. I know that someday you'll find a girl and you'll treat her amazing and then you two will have a family together. And the woman you find will not make the same mistake I did."

"Mom, please," I said with tears threatening to fall out of my eyes. I wiped them away with my hands. "Stop it. That was a long time ago. I don't even think about that anymore."

"But don't you see the scar every time you look in the mirror?"

"Yes, but I'm used to it." I told her. "It's just a part of me."

She shook her head and said shakily, "I wish it wasn't."

I groaned loudly and said, "Mom, you made a mistake. But here's the beauty of that…everyone does. I've made hundreds of mistakes so far in my life. You look around here at the hundreds of people that attended this ceremony. There is not one person here that has not made a mistake at some point in their life. It happens to everyone."

"But I bet no one has made the same mistake I made." she said shakily.

I crossed my arms. I was about to bring something up that I hated to talk or even think about, but if it got my mom to see that what she did was over and forgotten, then it was worth it. "Mom, you know Shayla's biological dad? Caleb? Could you imagine the guilt that he has? He intentionally hurt Tori and Shayla. What happened to me was an accident, but what he did to them was no accident. He knew exactly what he was doing. And even though Tori hasn't talked to him since she left him, she's forgiven him. So has Shayla. Once they forgave him, they were able to move on from it. Now I don't think they ever think about it. Heck, I haven't heard either one of them mention him in months. It's all about forgiveness, Mom. And I've forgiven you. There's no reason you should keep this guilt you have inside of you. You know what you can do that would make me extremely happy?"

"What?" she asked with tears in her eyes.

I put my hands on her shoulders and said, "Release yourself from this guilt. And never bring it up again. Please, can you do that for me?"

She looked at me in silence for a moment and then slowly nodded. "For you, Branson…I'll try. I'll really and truly try. It's just you don't understand the guilt I've carried with me for all these years."

"I know, Mom." I said and gave her another hug. "I know. But it's okay,"

"I love you so much, baby." she whispered.

"I love you, too." I whispered. When we pulled out of the hug, I said, "Just let me go say bye to Dad and Tori and I'll be back over here, okay?" There was an after graduation party that my class and all of the other high school students were going to and in the beginning, I was planning on going to it, but I was too tired. I just wanted to go home and go to bed.

"Okay," she said while nodding. "Take your time,"

I smiled and then turned around and tried to find my dad and Tori and they were right where I'd left them. I walked right up to them and told them bye and then I told my siblings bye as well. As I said bye, Aubrey started crying. I bent down and said, "Aubrey, what did I just tell you a little bit ago?"

"But you're saying bye," she mumbled. "I don't want you to leave."

I smiled. "I'm with my mom this weekend, peanut. I'm saying bye, because I'll be with her all weekend. But I'll be back Sunday evening, so I'll see you then, okay?"

She nodded. "Okay,"

I hugged her again, gave a wave and smile to everyone else, and then walked back over to my mom. Once I caught up to her, we left the stadium and headed to her car.

I couldn't help but smile all the way to the car. The moments I just had with my family are something I'll never forget. They are the moments that I will treasure for as long as I live.


End file.
